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