undo

See also: -undo

English

Pronunciation

• (US, UK) IPA^(key): /ʌnˈduː/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -uː
• Homophone: undue (yod-dropping)

Etymology 1

From Middle English undōn, from Old English ondōn, from Proto-West Germanic *andadōn (“to undo”), equivalent to un- +‎ do. Cognate with West Frisian ûndwaan, ûntdwaan (“to undo; rid”), Dutch ontdoen (“to undo”).

Verb

undo (third-person singular simple present undoes, present participle undoing, simple past undid, past participle undone) (transitive)

1. To reverse the effects of an action.

   Fortunately, we can undo most of the damage to the system by the war.

   • 1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tempest”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene ii], page 4:

     Pro. […] it was a torment / To lay vpon the damn'd, which Sycorax / Could not againe vndoe ; it was mine Art, / When I arriu'd, and heard thee, that made gape / The Pyne, and let thee out.

   • 2011 October 15, Michael Da Silva, “Wigan 1 - 3 Bolton”, in BBC Sport‎^[1]:

     But Wigan undid their good work by conceding an avoidable second goal deep into first-half injury time.

   • 2019 April 6, Caleb Quinley, “Thailand: Anti-military party leader faces sedition charges”, in Al Jazeera‎^[2], Doha: Al Jazeera, retrieved 2019-04-06:

     And judging by how well the progressive and youth-favoured party did, many observers suspect this latest round of legal charges are a response to Future Forward's commitment to undo the legacy of military rule and undertake democratic reforms.

2. To unfasten.

   Could you undo my buckle for me?

3. (figuratively) To impoverish or ruin, as in reputation; to cause the downfall of.
   • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC:

     Woe is me, for I am undone!

Synonyms

• (reverse effects): cancel, reverse
• (unfasten): unbuckle, unbutton, untie, unzip

Antonyms

• (antonym(s) of “reverse effects”): redo
• (antonym(s) of “unfasten”): do up, button, button up, tie up, zip, zip up,

Derived terms

• what's done cannot be undone

Descendants

• → Welsh: andwyo

Translations

to reverse

• Aragonese: desfer
• Aromanian: disfac
• Asturian: desfacer
• Bulgarian: отменям (bg) (otmenjam), връщам обратно (vrǎštam obratno)
• Catalan: desfer (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 復原 / 复原 (zh) (fùyuán), 重做 (zh) (chóngzuò)

• Czech: odčinit, navrátit
• Dutch: ongedaan maken, tenietdoen (nl), ontdoen (nl)
• Esperanto: malfari
• Finnish: kumota (fi)
• French: annuler (fr), défaire (fr)
• Galician: desfacer (gl)
• Georgian: გაუქმება (gaukmeba), შებრუნება (šebruneba), ანულირება (anulireba)
• German: rückgängig machen, ungeschehen machen
• Hindi: उधेड़ना (hi) (udheṛnā)
• Hungarian: visszavon (hu), visszaállít (hu), helyreállít (hu), jóvátesz (hu), visszacsinál (hu), meg nem történtté tesz
• Italian: annullare (it), disfare (it)
• Japanese: 戻す (ja) (もどす, modosu), 取り消す (ja) (とりけす, torikesu)
• Latin: abrogo, destruo (la)
• Maori: whakakore
• Norwegian: rette opp, angre (no)
• Portuguese: desfazer (pt)
• Rapa Nui: kume
• Romanian: desface (ro)
• Russian: отменя́ть (ru) impf (otmenjátʹ), отмени́ть (ru) pf (otmenítʹ), возвраща́ть (ru) impf (vozvraščátʹ), верну́ть (ru) pf (vernútʹ)
• Scottish Gaelic: neo-dhèan
• Serbo-Croatian: opovrgnuti (sh), revertirati
• Sindhi: اڻڪرڻ (sd)
• Spanish: deshacer (es), revertir (es), desfacer (es) (rare)
• Swedish: ångra (sv) (only when the person doing something is undoing own actions)
• Turkish: geri almak (tr)
• Vietnamese: hoàn tác
• Welsh: dad-wneud (cy)

to unfasten

• Aromanian: disfac
• Basque: askatu
• Bulgarian: отварям (bg) (otvarjam), развързвам (bg) (razvǎrzvam)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 解開 / 解开 (zh) (jiěkāi)

• Dutch: losmaken (nl)
• Faroese: loysa
• Finnish: avata (fi), irrottaa (fi)
• French: défaire (fr), délier (fr)
• Georgian: გახსნა (gaxsna), შეხსნა (šexsna)
• German: aufmachen (de), öffnen (de), losmachen (de), lösen (de), abschnallen
• Hungarian: kinyit (hu), kigombol (hu), kikapcsol (hu), kiköt (hu), kifűz (hu), kibont (hu), kicsatol (hu), kiold (hu)
• Irish: scaoil
• Italian: slacciare (it)
• Japanese: はずす (ja) (hazusu), ほどく (ja) (hodoku), 解く (ja) (とく, toku)
• Maori: wete, wetewete, wewete, whakamatara, maheno
• Norwegian: løsne (no)
• Portuguese: desatar (pt)
• Romanian: desface (ro)
• Russian: расстёгивать (ru) impf (rasstjógivatʹ), расстегну́ть (ru) pf (rasstegnútʹ), развя́зывать (ru) impf (razvjázyvatʹ), развяза́ть (ru) pf (razvjazátʹ)
• Scottish Gaelic: fuasgail
• Serbo-Croatian: razvezati (sh) (what is tied), raskopčati (sh) (what is buttoned up) (what is buttoned up)
• Spanish: desatar (es)
• Turkish: çözmek (tr)
• Welsh: datod (cy)

Noun

undo (plural undos)

1. (computing) An operation that reverses a previous action.

   How many undos does this program support?

Translations

an operation that reverses a previous action

• Hungarian: visszavonás (hu), visszaállítás (hu)

Etymology 2

Adjective

undo

1. Misspelling of undue.

Further reading

• undo on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Anagrams

• udon

Latin

Etymology

From unda (“a wave”).

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /ˈun.doː/, [ˈʊn̪d̪oː]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈun.do/, [ˈun̪d̪o]

Verb

undō (present infinitive undāre, perfect active undāvī, supine undātum); first conjugation

1. to rise in waves
2. to overflow with, abound in
3. to wave, undulate

Conjugation

   Conjugation of undō (first conjugation)

indicative		singular						plural
		first		second		third		first		second		third
active	present	undō		undās		undat		undāmus		undātis		undant
	imperfect	undābam		undābās		undābat		undābāmus		undābātis		undābant
	future	undābō		undābis		undābit		undābimus		undābitis		undābunt
	perfect	undāvī		undāvistī		undāvit		undāvimus		undāvistis		undāvērunt, undāvēre
	pluperfect	undāveram		undāverās		undāverat		undāverāmus		undāverātis		undāverant
	future perfect	undāverō		undāveris		undāverit		undāverimus		undāveritis		undāverint
passive	present	undor		undāris, undāre		undātur		undāmur		undāminī		undantur
	imperfect	undābar		undābāris, undābāre		undābātur		undābāmur		undābāminī		undābantur
	future	undābor		undāberis, undābere		undābitur		undābimur		undābiminī		undābuntur
	perfect	undātus + present active indicative of sum
	pluperfect	undātus + imperfect active indicative of sum
	future perfect	undātus + future active indicative of sum
subjunctive		singular						plural
		first		second		third		first		second		third
active	present	undem		undēs		undet		undēmus		undētis		undent
	imperfect	undārem		undārēs		undāret		undārēmus		undārētis		undārent
	perfect	undāverim		undāverīs		undāverit		undāverīmus		undāverītis		undāverint
	pluperfect	undāvissem		undāvissēs		undāvisset		undāvissēmus		undāvissētis		undāvissent
passive	present	under		undēris, undēre		undētur		undēmur		undēminī		undentur
	imperfect	undārer		undārēris, undārēre		undārētur		undārēmur		undārēminī		undārentur
	perfect	undātus + present active subjunctive of sum
	pluperfect	undātus + imperfect active subjunctive of sum
imperative		singular						plural
		first		second		third		first		second		third
active	present	—		undā		—		—		undāte		—
	future	—		undātō		undātō		—		undātōte		undantō
passive	present	—		undāre		—		—		undāminī		—
	future	—		undātor		undātor		—		—		undantor
non-finite forms		infinitive						participle
		active			passive			active			passive
present		undāre			undārī			undāns			—
future		undātūrum esse			undātum īrī			undātūrus			undandus
perfect		undāvisse			undātum esse			—			undātus
future perfect		—			undātum fore			—			—
perfect potential		undātūrum fuisse			—			—			—
verbal nouns		gerund								supine
		genitive		dative		accusative		ablative		accusative		ablative
		undandī		undandō		undandum		undandō		undātum		undātū

Derived terms

• abundō
• exundō
• redundō

Descendants

• Aromanian: undedz, undari
• → English: undate
• Italian: ondare
• Portuguese: undar
• Romanian: unda, undare
• Spanish: ondear

References

• “undo”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “undo”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• undo in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• Carl Meißner, Henry William Auden (1894) Latin Phrase-Book‎^[3], London: Macmillan and Co.
  • a thing finds credence, is credible: aliquid fidem habet (vid. also fides under sect. VII., History)
    
• William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin E[li] Smith, editors (1911), “redound”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC.

Lindu

Noun

undo

1. flattery