Undergrew

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. Developed to a lesser height or size than is usual, or sprouted at a lower level beneath taller plants
2. Failed to reach the full stature expected, or came up in the shade under larger growth around it
3. Matured more slightly than the typical norm, or spread upward from beneath a canopy of larger plants

Etymology: "Undergrew" is the simple past of "undergrow," which means to grow beneath or in the shadow of something taller, or to grow too little. The verb is built from "under-" and "grow," with the sense of growing below or beneath a higher canopy, a usage that comes naturally from the way low plants thrive in the shade of trees. The base "grow" goes back to Old English "growan," which shares roots with many Germanic words for growth and greenness. Adding "under-," the prefix meaning "below" or "beneath," produced a verb that describes plants filling the space underneath a taller layer, such as shrubs beneath an oak wood. Because "undergrew" is simply the past tense of this compound, its history is that of "undergrow" plus the regular past-tense ending that "grew" already carries as an irregular form of "grow."