Embrace
/ɪmˈbreɪs/noun
To hold someone closely in one’s arms, or to accept or adopt something willingly.
Did you know?‘Embrace’ entered English through Old French, ultimately from a Latin root meaning ‘to put into the arms,’ which is why the word still carries both physical closeness and emotional acceptance.
Etymological Timeline
Proto-Indo-European
PIE
*bʰerǵʰ-
“a root associated with the arm and upper limb”
Latin
Latin
bracchium
“arm”
Late Latin
Latin
imbracchiare
“to put into the arms, clasp”
Old French
Old French
embracier
“to clasp in the arms, embrace”
Middle English
English
embracen
“to embrace, enfold in the arms”
Modern English
English
embrace
“to hold closely or accept willingly”