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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

undertone.

An auditory tone of low pitch or volume.

9 characters3 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

noun/ˈʌndə(ɹ)təʊn/

  1. An auditory tone of low pitch or volume.

    countable · uncountable

  2. An implicit message perceived subtly alongside, but not detracting noticeably from, the explicit message conveyed in or by a book, film, speech or similar (contrast with overtone); an undercurrent.

    countable · figuratively · uncountable

  3. A pale colour, or one seen underneath another colour.

    countable · uncountable

  4. A low state of the physical faculties.

    countable · uncountable
Where this word comes from

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *h₁én Proto-Indo-European *-tér Proto-Indo-European *h₁entér Proto-Indo-European *h₂én Proto-Indo-European *dʰeh₁-? Proto-Indo-European *-dʰi ? Proto-Indo-European *(H)n̥dʰí Proto-Indo-European *-ér Proto-Indo-European *(H)n̥dʰér Proto-Germanic *under Proto-West Germanic *undar Old English under- Middle English under- English under- English tone English undertone From under- + tone.

verb/ˈʌndə(ɹ)təʊn/

  1. To accompany as an undertone.

  2. To say or speak in an undertone.

  3. To present as less important, noticeable or prominent.

Where this word comes from

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *h₁én Proto-Indo-European *-tér Proto-Indo-European *h₁entér Proto-Indo-European *h₂én Proto-Indo-European *dʰeh₁-? Proto-Indo-European *-dʰi ? Proto-Indo-European *(H)n̥dʰí Proto-Indo-European *-ér Proto-Indo-European *(H)n̥dʰér Proto-Germanic *under Proto-West Germanic *undar Old English under- Middle English under- English under- English tone English undertone From under- + tone.

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.