Other forms: undertaken, undertook, undertaking, undertakes
To undertake is to formally take a big task upon yourself. Undertake a project, undertake to pay, undertake the work.
It is more binding than agree: undertaking to do something is a commitment, and in law an undertaking given to a court is enforceable. It also introduces a large piece of work: undertake a review, undertake research. Note undertaking, which means both the commitment and the enterprise; and undertaker, which narrowed from anybody who undertook a task to one who arranges funerals.
1verbundertakeTo formally take a big task upon yourself.
“The charity plans to undertake a huge study of child poverty.”
2verbcommitTo commit yourself formally.
“The landlord undertook to repair the roof before winter.”
Too few real examples of this word to estimate which sense is commonest.
undertake is a taking on.
Middle English undertaken is under plus take, on the model of an older word undernim. The German unternehmen is built the same way and means to undertake or to be an enterprise.
Middle English
undertaken
English, today
undertake
From Middle English undertaken; equivalent to under + take (after undernim).
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA