Other forms: undertones
An undertone is the faint colour beneath the surface of skin. A warm undertone.
Matching foundation to the undertone rather than the surface shade is what stops it looking like a mask. The same word means a quiet note in a voice or a hidden meaning in a remark.
1nounundertoneThe faint colour beneath the surface of skin.
“Her undertone was cool and every shade she owned was warm.”
undertone is a colour.
Proto-Indo-European
*ten-
Ancient Greek
τόνος — strain, tension, pitch
Old French
ton
Latin
tonus — sound, tone
Middle English
ton
English
tone
English, today
undertone
Built from
From under- + tone. tone comes from Middle English ton, tone, from Latin tonus (“sound, tone”) (possibly through Old French ton), from Ancient Greek τόνος (“strain, tension, pitch”), from τείνω (“to stretch”). a doublet of tune and ton and tonos and tonus.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA