enrich

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English enrichen,^[2][3][4] borrowed from Old French enrichir, also enrichier,^{[5][6][3][2][7]} formed from en- and riche (“rich”).^[5][6][3][8] It is related to rich.^[6][8] The Anglo-Norman verb is recorded from the early 12th century, for enriching, augmenting and enriching oneself.^[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

To make wealthy: 1382, in the earlier version of the Wycliffite Bible (Genesis 30:20).^[5][2] Etymonline dates it to the late 14th century.^[6]

Semantic evolution

Already in Middle English the verb meant both to increase the wealth of someone and to adorn something richly.^[2] The OED dates the figurative sense, to endow with mental or spiritual riches, from 1502,^[5] and Etymonline from the 1590s.^[6] From the late 16th century it was also used of adding to a store of valuables (1578), of improving a language or science (1598), and since 1601 of making soil fertile and of adorning a thing richly.^[5][6] Johnson (1755) defined it as "to make wealthy; to make opulent".^[10] From 1620 it meant to make richer in quality, flavour or colour.^[5] Technical senses followed in the 20th century: raising the heating value of a gas by mixing in another (1921) and increasing the proportion of one isotope in a material (1945).^[5][6]

Timeline

• 1382 – to make wealthy.^[5][2]
• 1502 – figuratively, to endow with spiritual or mental riches.^[5]
• 1525 – reflexive, to enrich oneself.^[5]
• 1598 – to improve a language or a science.^[5]
• 1601 – to fertilize soil; to adorn richly.^[5][6]
• 1620 – to make richer in quality, flavour or colour.^[5]
• 1945 – to increase the proportion of an isotope.^[5][6]

Meanings

Verb

1. To make rich or richer; to increase the wealth of: The merchants enriched themselves through the spice trade.^[11][4][5]
2. To improve by adding desirable qualities: Living abroad enriched her understanding of other cultures.^[11][4][5]
3. To adorn or decorate, often with costly things.^[11][5]
4. To improve in quality, colour or flavour.^[11][5]
5. To add nutrients to a food: flour enriched with iron.^[11][4]
6. To make soil more productive; to fertilize.^[11][5]
7. (physics) To increase the proportion of one component or isotope in a material, as in enriched uranium.^[11][5]

Word family

• enricher
• enrichment
• enrichingly

Related words

• rich
• riches

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e 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 c The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
4. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
7. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
9. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
10. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
11. ^ a b c d e f g Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins