Embellish
/ɪmˈbɛlɪʃ/noun
To decorate or add attractive details to something.
Did you know?Embellish comes through Old French from a Latin source tied to making a thing more beautiful, showing how language has long treated surface beauty as a kind of power.
Etymological Timeline
Latin
Latin
bellus
“pretty, handsome, fine”
Late Latin
LL
bellificare
“to make beautiful or adorn”
Old French
OF
embelir
“to beautify, make handsome”
Middle English
ME
embelisshen
“to make more beautiful or ornate”
Modern English
English
embellish
“to decorate or add attractive details to”
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