Etymology

underworld

U1N1D2E1R1W4O1R1L1D2

Today it means: The world of the dead, located underneath the world of the living; the afterlife. Full definition →

English world ← Middle English world ← Old English weorold
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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*weyh₁-?
  13. Proto-Indo-European*wiHrós
  14. Proto-Germanic*weraz
  15. Proto-Indo-European*h₂el-
  16. Proto-Indo-European*h₂életi
  17. Proto-Germanic*alaną
  18. Proto-Germanic*aldiz
  19. Proto-Germanic*weraldiz
  20. Proto-West Germanic*weraldi
  21. Old Englishweorold
  22. Middle Englishworld
  23. Englishworld
  24. English todayunderworld

From under- + world.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.