Where does “purify” come from?

Purify comes from Middle English purifien, from Old French purifier, from Latin purifico, combining Latin purus meaning pure with facio meaning to make, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European dʰeh₁- meaning to put or place.

purify (English): To cleanse, or rid of impurities; To free from...

Definitions

  1. To cleanse, or rid of impurities; To free from...

Ancestry of “purify”, step by step

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Middle Englishpurifien—
2Old Frenchpurifier—
3Latinpūrificōto purify (ritually)
4Latin-ficōforms factitive, causative, or other verbs from the roots of nouns and adjectives; -ify
5Latin-ficusForms adjectives that denote bringing or making
6Proto-Italic-fakos-making, -producing

Words derived from “purify”

Every word from Proto-Italic -fakos →Every word from Latin -ficō →Every word from Latin -ficus →