Where does “impoverish” come from?
Impoverish comes from Middle English impoverishen, from Old French empoverir, composed of the prefix en- and Old French poverir, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European roots meaning "not" and "in."
impoverish (English): To make poor; To weaken in quality; to deprive of...
Definitions
- To make poor; To weaken in quality; to deprive of...
Ancestry of “impoverish”, step by step
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|
| 1 | Middle English | empoverishen | — |
| 2 | Old French | empoverir | — |
| 3 | Old French | en- | en- |
| 4 | Latin | īn- | — |
| 5 | Latin | în | — |
| 6 | Latin | en | lookǃ beholdǃ; reallyǃ?; come onǃ |
| 7 | Proto-Italic | en | in |
| 8 | Proto-Indo-European | h₁én | in |
Words derived from “impoverish”