The story
- Middle English · derived fromunderlaughteren“to smirk”
- Middle English · derived fromunderlaughen“to smile; smile with the eyes”
- English todayunderlaugh
Probably derived from Middle English underlaughen (“to smile; smile with the eyes”), Middle English underlaughteren (“to smirk”), equivalent to under- + laugh.
Words from the same roots
Middle Englishunderlaughen all →
underlaughter
Middle Englishunderlaughteren all →
underlaughter
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.