underpay
"underpay" is a 8-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“underpay” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a verb. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 8
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - To pay (someone) less than the value of their work; to pay (someone) insufficiently.
Corpus desk
Index EN-underpay · underpay · English
underpay · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-LONG 8 letters
- VOW-4 4 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-THIN "U" thin
- PHOTO-UNK Peer pending
Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern
Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | underpay |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Verb |
| Letters | 8 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “underpay” in English
Rare enough to double-check
underpay is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as averb. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.
The misspelling generator found no plausible variants for underpay, a sign its spelling follows regular English conventions. Our dataset records no confusable match here, which usually means its spelling is distinct enough that readers don't reach for a similar-looking word instead.
Etymologically, the entry records: From under- + pay. The correct English form is underpay, spelled U-N-D-E-R-P-A-Y.
Definition
- 1To pay (someone) less than the value of their work; to pay (someone) insufficiently.
- 2To pay less than is due for (something).
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how underpay appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
The company-city subgenre always seemed to star a hero who outsmarted, overthrew, or escaped "the company." I've never seen one where the hero fought like hell to get taken in and underpaid by the company.
In their Position Paper, respondents averred that they were underpaid their daily wage, overtime work pay and 13th month pay.
Etymology
From under- + pay.
This word in other languages
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.