Deplete
/dɪˈpliːt/noun
To use up or reduce something so much that little or none remains.
Did you know?Deplete comes from Latin *deplere*, formed from *de-* (“down, away”) + *plere* (“to fill”); its root is the same one behind words of fullness and abundance, making it a linguistic inversion of emptiness.
Etymological Timeline
Proto-Indo-European
PIE
*pleh₁-
“to fill, make full”
Latin
Latin
plēre
“to fill”
Latin
Latin
dēplēre
“to empty out, drain, fill down/away”
Late Latin / Old French
Latin / Old French
depletus / depleter
“to empty, exhaust”
Late Middle English
English
depleten
“to empty, drain”
Modern English
English
deplete
“to use up or reduce the amount of something”