Other forms: misunderstanding, misunderstood, misunderstands
To misunderstand is to take a wrong meaning from what was said. Misunderstand the question, widely misunderstood, do not misunderstand me.
The past tense is misunderstood. Do not misunderstand me is a common way of heading off an objection before making a point. Widely misunderstood is a standard phrase in explanation and often a claim about the writer as much as the subject. Note misunderstanding, which is the polite name for a disagreement; and the mis- prefix, which reverses or spoils rather than negating.
1verbmisunderstandTo take a wrong meaning from what was said.
“I think you misunderstood the instructions; we were supposed to meet at the station.”
misunderstand is a taking of wrong meaning.
The mis- prefix is native Old English and means wrongly or badly. It attaches freely to English verbs — misread, mishear, misjudge — and much less comfortably to Latin ones, which is why misunderstand exists and misinterpret sounds different.
Middle English
mys-understanden
English, today
misunderstand
From Middle English mys-understanden, equivalent to mis + understand.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA