Etymology

underdog

U1N1D2E1R1D2O1G2

Today it means: A competitor thought unlikely to win. Full definition →

English dog ← Middle English dogge ← Old English *dogga
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The story

  1. Proto-Indo-European*h₁én
  2. Proto-Indo-European*h₁entér
  3. Proto-Indo-European*h₂én
  4. Proto-Indo-European*dʰeh₁-?
  5. Proto-Indo-European*(H)n̥dʰí
  6. Proto-Indo-European*(H)n̥dʰér
  7. Proto-Germanic*under
  8. Proto-West Germanic*undar
  9. Old Englishunder-
  10. Middle Englishunder-
  11. Englishunder-
  12. Old English*dogga
  13. Middle Englishdogge
  14. Englishdog
  15. English todayunderdog

From under- + dog.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.