understand

English

Alternative forms

Etymology

From Middle English understanden, from Old English understandan (“to understand”), from Proto-Germanic *under (“between”) + *standaną (“to stand”), equivalent to Old English under- (“between, inter-”) + standan (“to stand”). Cognate with Old Frisian understonda (“to understand, experience, learn”), Old High German understantan (“to understand”), Middle Danish understande (“to understand”). Compare also Saterland Frisian understunda, unnerstounde (“to dare, survey, measure”), Dutch onderstaan (“to undertake, presume”), German unterstehen (“to be subordinate”). More at inter-, stand.

Pronunciation

  • (Received Pronunciation) enPR: ŭn′-də-stănd', IPA(key): /ˌʌndəˈstænd/,
    • Audio (UK)(file)
  • (General American) enPR: ŭn′-dər-stănd', IPA(key): /ˌʌndɚˈstænd/, [ˌʌn(ɾ)ɚˈstænd]
    • Audio (US)(file)
  • (Ireland) IPA(key): /ˌɞndəɹˈstand/
  • Rhymes: -ænd
  • Hyphenation: un‧der‧stand

Verb

understand (third-person singular simple present understands, present participle understanding, simple past and past participle understood)

  1. (transitive) To be aware of the meaning of.
    I understand German.
    I received your note, but I did not understand it.
  2. To believe, based on information.
    I understand that you have information for me.
    • 1963, Margery Allingham, “Foreword”, in The China Governess‎:
      ‘I understand that the district was considered a sort of sanctuary,’ the Chief was saying. ‘An Alsatia like the ancient one behind the Strand, or the Saffron Hill before the First World War. […]’
  3. To impute meaning, character etc. that is not explicitly stated.
    But we cannot disappoint Grandma and Grandpa Smith, and that is what family is all about! Do you understand?!
    In this sense, the word is usually used in the past participle:
    In the imperative mood, the word “you” is usually understood.
    • John Locke (1632-1705)
      The most learned interpreters understood the words of sin, and not of Abel.
    • 1892, Walter Besant, “Prologue: Who is Edmund Gray?”, in The Ivory Gate: A Novel, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers, Franklin Square, OCLC 16832619:
      Thus, when he drew up instructions in lawyer language, he expressed the important words by an initial, a medial, or a final consonant, and made scratches for all the words between; his clerks, however, understood him very well.
  4. (obsolete, rare, humorous) To stand under; to support.
    (Can we find and add a quotation of Shakespeare to this entry?)
  5. (circus, acrobatics) One who supports others in such performances as the human pyramid.

Usage notes

  • Common objects of this verb include text, word(s), sentence(s), note(s), etc.
  • Rarely, the obsolete past tense form understanded may be found, e.g. in the Book of Common Prayer and Thirty-nine Articles of the Anglican Church.

Synonyms

Antonyms

Derived terms

Translations

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout#Translations.

See also

Further reading

  • understand in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913
  • understand in The Century Dictionary, The Century Co., New York, 1911

Anagrams

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