Emaciate
/ɪˈmeɪ.ʃi.eɪt/noun
To cause someone or something to become abnormally thin or weak.
Did you know?The word comes from Latin *emaciāre*, meaning to “spoil” or “make lean,” from *macer*—“lean, thin”—so its history is basically a linguistic ritual of depletion.
Etymological Timeline
Proto-Indo-European
PIE
*mak-
“to be thin, lean, or meager”
Latin
Latin
macer
“lean, thin, wasted”
Late Latin
Latin
emaciāre
“to make lean, waste away”
Old French
Old French
emacier
“to make thin, waste”
Middle English
English
emacien
“to waste away or become thin”
Modern English
English
emaciate
“to cause or become abnormally thin and weak”