Etymology

underline

U1N1D2E1R1L1I1N1E1

Today it means: A line placed underneath a piece of text in order to provide emphasis or to indicate that it should be viewed in italics or (in electronic documents) that it acts as a hyperlink. Full definition →

English line ← Middle English line ← Old English līne
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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. Proto-Indo-European*līno-der.?
  13. Proto-Germanic*līną
  14. Proto-Germanic*līnǭ
  15. Proto-West Germanic*līnā
  16. Old Englishlīne
  17. Middle Englishline
  18. Englishline
  19. English todayunderline

From under- + line.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.