beneath

Etymology

From Middle English benethe, from Old English bineoþan (“beneath, under, below”), equivalent to be- + neath. Cognate with Low German benedden (“beneath”), Dutch beneden (“beneath, under, down”), obsolete German benieden (“below”).

adv

1. Below or underneath.
   Of all the transitions brought about on the Earth’s surface by temperature change, the melting of ice into water is the starkest. It is binary. And for the land beneath, the air above and the life around, it changes everything. 2013-05-11, “The climate of Tibet: Pole-land”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8835, page 80

prep

1. Below.
   1718, Alexander Pope, epitaph to Nicholas Rowe Beneath a rude and nameless stone he lies.
2. In a position that is lower in rank, dignity, etc.
   Their despicable behaviour is beneath contempt.
   He will do nothing that is beneath his high station. a. 1730, Francis Atterbury, in The Grub-Street Journal, Volume 1
3. Covered up or concealed by something.