Skip to content
word of the day

The word for today is…

edify (verb):
1 : to instruct and improve especially in moral and religious knowledge

2 archaic
a : build
b : establish

Source : Merriam -Webster

Etymology : The Latin noun aedes, meaning “house” or “temple,” is the root of aedificare, a verb meaning “to erect a house.” Generations of speakers built on that meaning, and by the Late Latin period, the verb had gained the figurative sense of “to instruct or improve spiritually.” The word eventually passed through Anglo-French before Middle English speakers adopted it as edify during the 14th century. Two of its early meanings, “to build” and “to establish,” are now considered archaic; the only current sense of edify is essentially the same as that figurative meaning in Late Latin, “to instruct and improve in moral and religious knowledge.”

If you enjoyed this BFD word of the day please consider sharing it with your friends and, especially, your children.

Latest

Acres of Skin

Acres of Skin

A young doctor looked at a prison full of men and saw a field to harvest. The cream in your medicine cabinet came out of a prison experiment.

Members Public
How I Fell Out With Julie Burchill

How I Fell Out With Julie Burchill

The Modern Review is coming to Substack with an online archive plus new original content. Read about how the famed ‘low culture’ magazine came crashing down when Julie Burchill plotted a coup with her new lesbian lover.

Members Public