underlay
/ʌndəɹˈleɪ/verb, noun
underlay is spelled U-N-D-E-R-L-A-Y: 8 letters. It appears about once in every 5 million words in written English, the 68,248th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a verb, underlay means “To lay (something) underneath something else; to put under” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).
How many letters and syllables are in underlay?
| Letters | 8: U-N-D-E-R-L-A-Y |
|---|---|
| In writing | about once in every 5 million words; the 68,248th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How common is underlay?
Underlay appears about once in every 5 million words in written English, the 68,248th most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce underlay?
- /ʌndəɹˈleɪ/
As a noun (“A layer (of earth, etc.) that lies under another; substratum”): /ˈʌndəɹˌleɪ/.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Persent101-underlay.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of underlay
- underlays present, singular, he/she/it, plural
- underlaying participle, present
- underlaid participle, past
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does underlay mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
verb
- 1
To lay (something) underneath something else; to put under.
We underlaid the carpet with felt.
- 2
To provide a support for something; to raise or support by something laid under.
to underlay a cut, plate, or the like, for printing
- 3
To put a tap on (a shoe).
- 4
To incline from the vertical.
- 5
simple past of underlie
noun
- 1
A layer (of earth, etc.) that lies under another; substratum.
- 2
A soft floor covering that lies under a carpet.
- 3
Anything that is underlaid.
- 4
A piece of paper pasted under woodcuts, stereotype plates, etc. in a form, to bring them up to the necessary level for printing.
- 5
Lyrics; or more specifically, the way in which lyrics are assigned to musical notes.
The underlay in bar 3 is unclear in Handel's manuscript.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Underlay in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense soft floor covering under carpet:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | sous-couche |
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does underlay come from?
From Middle English underleyen, from Old English underleċġan (“to underlay, prop, support”), equivalent to under- + lay. Cognate with Dutch onderleggen (“to lay or put under”), German unterlegen (“to underlay”), Swedish underlägga (“to underlay”).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).