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to undercook

to undercook

8 2.7
Cook food for too short a time so it is not fully done or safe to eat
  • verb
  • /ˌʌndərˈkʊk/
translation icon : cocinar poco
  • She realized she had undercooked the chicken when it was still pink inside.
  • undercooked hamburger
  • undercooked meat
  • undercooked pork

The trick is to undercook the onions.

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Examples

  • I found some of the cookies were a little undercooked after 13 minutes, despite being golden brown.

    Blog text (20)
  • Eating a hamburger that is undercooked is a behavior that could result in foodborne illness.

    Academic text (2004)
  • I feel like I undercooked it.

  • In both cases, the patient had been regularly exposed to cats and had recently eaten undercooked meat.

    Academic text (2006)
  • Young children should not be given unpasteurized dairy products or undercooked food.

    Academic text (2012)
  • And what happens when a steak you've ordered comes out undercooked or overcooked?

    Blog text (4)
  • A plausible explanation is that during peak times, the rotisserie chicken was undercooked.

    Academic text (2012)
  • Unpasteurized dairy products, soft cheeses, and undercooked food, especially meat, should be avoided.

    Academic text (2011)
  • Yersinia infection most often occurs from eating raw or undercooked pork products, such as chitterlings.

    Academic text (2005)
  • And E. coli O157:H7 has been linked to undercooked hamburger in the 1993 outbreak in the Pacific Northwest that killed four children.

    Academic text (1996)

Synonyms

to underbake
vsto undercook
4.1

Bake something for less time so it stays raw inside

is broader and applies to cooking generally and stresses safety risk
to underdo
vsto undercook
6.8

To cook, heat, or do something for too short a time so it is not fully done

is specific to food and warns it may be unsafe to eat

Antonyms

13 1.0

To cook food for too long so it becomes dry or less tasty

How Cooked

to overcook
13 1.0
to cook
1.0
to undercook
8 2.7

Surface Forms

undercook infinitive
undercooked past participle
undercooking present participle
undercooks third person singular

Morphology

undercook = cook (transparent) = under + cook

The prefix 'under-' clearly indicates 'not enough' or 'below the required level', making the meaning derivable from 'cook'.

Etymology

The word undercook is made of under ('not enough' or 'below') and cook ('to heat food'), so to undercook something is to cook it 'not enough', leaving it still raw or unsafe to eat.