Beneath: Formal, often used in literature; suggests something is hidden or covered. Underneath: Emphasizes being hidden or covered, more casual than “beneath.” Beneath means 'at a lower level than' or 'not good enough for'. Learn how to use it as a preposition or an adverb, and see examples from the Cambridge English Corpus. Beneath definition: Underneath.Origin of Beneath From Middle English benethe, from Old English beneoþan (“beneath, under, below”), from Proto-Germanic "bī-niþana (“below”), from Proto-Indo-European "ni-, "nei- (“in, under”). Cognate with Low German benedden (“beneath”), Dutch beneden (“beneath, under, down”), German benieden (“below”). Compare also Danish neden (“below”), Swedish and Icelandic nedan (“below, under”). See also nether. From Wiktionary Middle ... Things that are under something else are beneath it. A star gazer is beneath the night sky, and tropical fish swim beneath the surface of the water.
