verb
undertake
Begin an activity or enterprise
Where it comes from
Undertake is the English compound of under and take, modeled in part on a similar use of French entreprendre. It meant taking something upon oneself, accepting responsibility for it, or committing oneself to perform it. An undertaker was simply a person who undertook such work.
How the meaning developed
Early undertakers managed many kinds of projects and businesses. Funeral-undertaker specified the person who took responsibility for funeral arrangements. As other occupational uses faded, the shortened undertaker became strongly associated with funerals.
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Sources
Definitions adapted from Open English WordNet where applicable. License and attribution. Word-history text comes from Lexifour’s sourced social research; pages are assembled automatically, not individually fact-checked on every update.
Updated 2026-09-25. Report a correction.