beneath

English

Alternative forms

• beneathe (obsolete)

Etymology

From Middle English benethe, from Old English beneoþan (“beneath, under, below”), from Proto-Germanic *bī-niþana (“below”), from Proto-Indo-European *ni-, *nei- (“in, under”). Cognate with Low German benedden (“beneath”), Dutch beneden (“beneath, under, down”), German benieden (“below”). Compare also Danish neden (“below”), Swedish and Icelandic nedan (“below, under”). See also nether.

Pronunciation

• IPA: /bɪˈniːθ/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -iːð

Adverb

beneath

1. Below or underneath.
   • 2013 May 11, “The climate of Tibet: Pole-land”, The Economist, volume 407, number 8835, page 80: 

     Of all the transitions brought about on the Earth’s surface by temperature change, the melting of ice into water is the starkest. It is binary. And for the land beneath, the air above and the life around, it changes everything.

Translations

below or underneath

• Catalan: sota (ca)
• Dutch: onder (nl), beneden (nl)
• Finnish: alla (fi)

• French: dessous (fr)
• Italian: sotto (it)

Preposition

beneath

1. Below.
2. To a lower position.
3. Covered up or concealed by something.

Translations

below

• Armenian: տակ (hy) (tak)
• Bulgarian: отдолу (bg) (otdolu), под (bg) (pod)
• Catalan: sota (ca)
• Czech: pod (cs)
• Dutch: onder (nl)
• Finnish: alla (fi), alapuolella (fi)
• French: sous (fr)

• Norwegian: under (no)
• Romanian: sub (ro), dedesubt (ro)
• Russian: под (ru) (pod)
• Scots: aneath
• Scottish Gaelic: fo (gd)
• Spanish: bajo de (es), abajo de (es)
• Ukrainian: під (uk) (pid)

to a lower position

• Dutch: onder (nl)
• Finnish: alle (fi), alapuolelle (fi)

• Russian: ниже (ru) (niže)

concealed or covered up

• Dutch: onder (nl)

• Finnish: alla (fi)

Statistics

• Most common English words before 1923: soft · officers · likely · #833: beneath · conversation · music · direction