undergoer

9.5

A person or thing affected by an action

noun
/ˌʌndərˈɡoʊər/

Specialized

: sujeto afectado

Questions not only challenge the physician's institutional authority; they challenge the image of the patient as a passive undergoer of treatment.

Examples

Thus, the first person signals the identity of a participant in the narrated event with the performer of the speech event, and the second person signals the identity with the actual or potential undergoer of the speech event.

Academic text (1994)
In the research study, the patient was viewed as an undergoer of various treatment protocols.
As a language learner, she often felt like an undergoer of many new language rules.
In the experiment, the undergoer of the test demonstrated significant changes in behavior.

Synonyms

experiencer

vsundergoer

1 7.2

A person or thing that feels, notices and is affected by something

is used especially in grammar and linguistics for such affected entities

affected role

vsundergoer

Specialized

9.1

A person or thing that an action happens to but does not cause

is broader and can mean any person or thing affected by an action

Surface Forms

undergoer singular

undergoers plural

Morphology

undergoer = undergo (transparent) = undergo + er

Formed by the verb 'undergo' plus the regular agentive/nominalizing suffix '-er' meaning 'one who undergoes', a straightforward derivation.

Etymology

The word undergoer comes from the parts under 'below', go 'move', and the ending -er 'person', like in worker. Think of someone who 'goes under' an action and so is affected by it or experiences it, so an undergoer is the person or thing that receives the action.