augment

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English augmenten, also aumenten,^[2][3] borrowed from Anglo-Norman augmenter and Middle French augmenter, rarely aumenter,^[4][5][6] and directly borrowed from Late Latin augmentō (“to increase”),^[4][2][7] from augmentum (“an increase, growth”),^[8][7][5] formed from augeō (“to increase”) and the suffix -mentum,^[4][3] from Proto-Indo-European *aug- (“to increase”).^[8][7] The Anglo-Norman verb is recorded from 1395–96, meaning to enhance, increase, build up or restore.^[9] The noun was taken directly from the Latin noun, or partly through French;^[4][10][11] in post-classical Latin it already named the prefixed vowel of Greek grammar, in Erasmus before 1536.^[4] The verb is related to eke,^[6][12] auction^[13][14] and author.^[14]

Earliest recorded meaning

To make greater, and to become greater, in number, size or degree: before 1400, in a translation of Lanfranc's Science of Cirurgie.^[4][2][5] Etymonline gives a first sense "to become more severe" in the late 14th century.^[8] The noun, an increase, is recorded from about 1425, in Lydgate's Troy Book.^[4]

Semantic evolution

In the 15th to 17th centuries the verb could also mean to enrich a person (1427–1704) and to raise a person in rank (1567–1655).^[4] In heraldry it meant from 1572 to add a charge to a coat of arms as a mark of honour,^[4][6] and in music, from 1694 in Purcell, to restate a theme with longer note values.^[4] Johnson (1755) defined the noun as "encrease", and noted its medical use for the stage at which an inflammation is increasing.^[15] The grammatical noun, the vowel prefixed to past forms of verbs in Greek and Sanskrit, appears in 1671, in Phillips's New World of Words,^[4][6][10] and in surgery the noun has denoted an implant since 1982.^[4]

Timeline

• before 1400 – to make greater; to become greater.^[4][2]
• c. 1425 – noun, an increase.^[4]
• 1427 – to enrich a person (obsolete by 1704).^[4]
• 1567 – to raise in rank (obsolete by 1655).^[4]
• 1572 – in heraldry, to add a mark of honour to a coat of arms.^[4]
• 1671 – noun, in grammar, a vowel prefixed to past forms of verbs.^[4][6]
• 1694 – in music, to restate a theme in longer note values.^[4]
• 1982 – noun, in surgery, an implant.^[4]

Meanings

Verb

1. To make greater in size, number, amount or degree; to supplement: She augmented her income by tutoring at weekends.^[6][16][4]
2. To become greater; to increase.^[6][16][4]
3. (music) To widen a major or perfect interval by a semitone;^[16] or to restate a theme in longer note values.^[4]
4. (heraldry) To add a mark of honour to a coat of arms.^[6][4]
5. (grammar) To add an augment to a verb form.^[6][16]

Noun

1. (grammar) A vowel prefixed to a verb, or a lengthening of its first vowel, marking past time, as in Greek and Sanskrit.^{[6][16][4][10]}
2. An increase.^[4][10]
3. (surgery) An implant used to repair or enlarge part of the body.^[4]

Word family

• augmentable
• augmenter

Related words

• augmentation
• august
• auction
• author
• authorize
• auxiliary
• eke
• augur

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
3. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z 27 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b c Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
7. ^ a b c The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
8. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
9. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
10. ^ a b c d Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
11. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
12. ^ Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
13. ^ Skeat, Walter W. (1911), A Concise Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, new ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
14. ^ a b Partridge, Eric (1966), Origins: A Short Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, 4th ed., London: Routledge & Kegan Paul
15. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
16. ^ a b c d e Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins