Etymologically
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improve

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Pronunciation

  • IPA: /ɪmˈpruːv/[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English improwen,[2] borrowed from Anglo-Norman emprouwer (“to turn to profit”),[3][2][4] from en-, a causative prefix,[3][2] and prou (“profit”),[3][4] from Late Latin prōde (“advantageous”),[3][2] evolved from Latin prōdest (“it is of advantage”).[4][5] It also came in through Anglo-Latin improwiare.[2] The -v- spelling, rare before the 17th century, arose from confusion of u and v and the influence of prove and approve.[3][4][5] It is related to proud.[3][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

To turn land to profit, to enclose and cultivate waste land: 1473 in Barnhart,[2] the late 15th century in Etymonline.[3] The OED has the sense in Anglo-French and Anglo-Latin documents from 1292.[6]

Semantic evolution

From profiting by land came “to use to advantage”, before 1529,[2][6] and “to make good use of an event or time”, from 1539.[6] Improve the occasion keeps this older sense.[3] “To make better, raise to a better quality” is from 1617 in Barnhart[2] and the 1610s in Etymonline,[3] and the intransitive “to get better” from 1727.[3] Making land more valuable by clearing and building survived or was revived in the American colonies and Australia,[3] and in American use improve also meant to occupy a place.[6] A separate obsolete improve, from Latin improbāre, meant “to disprove, censure”, from about 1449,[6][7] and Trench notes how that sense survived in 16th-century writers.[8]

Timeline

  • 1292 – the sense in Anglo-French documents.[6]
  • 1473 – to turn land to profit.[2]
  • before 1529 – to employ to advantage.[2][6]
  • 1539 – to make good use of an occasion.[6]
  • 1617 – to make better.[2]
  • 1727 – to become better.[3]

Modern meaning

Verb

  1. To make better in quality or condition.
  2. To increase the value or productivity of land or property.
  3. To become better.
  4. (archaic) To use profitably.

Word family

  • improvability
  • improvable
  • improver
  • improvably
  • improvingly
  • improvement

Usage notes

In the dialect of Rutland and elsewhere improve meant “to learn one's trade as an apprentice”.[9]

References

  1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ a b c d Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  5. ^ a b Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  8. ^ Trench, Richard Chenevix (1859), A Select Glossary of English Words Used Formerly in Senses Different from Their Present, London: John W. Parker
  9. ^ Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)