Where does “imbibe” come from?

Imbibe comes from Old French imbiber, from Latin imbibo meaning to drink in, from Latin in- combined with a root from Proto-Indo-European peh₃- meaning to drink.

imbibe (English): To drink; To take in; absorb

Definitions

  1. To drink; To take in; absorb

Ancestry of “imbibe”, step by step

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Middle EnglishimbibenTo absorb; to sop up
2Latinimbibōto drink in, imbibe
3Latinbibōto drink
4Latin-ilis-ile
5Proto-Italic-elis—
6Proto-Indo-European-elis—
7Proto-Indo-European-lósForms agent nouns from verbal roots

Words derived from “imbibe”

Every word from Proto-Indo-European -lós →Every word from Latin -ilis →Every word from Latin bibō →