Empurple
/ɪmˈpɜːr.pəl/noun
To make or become purple, especially to give something a rich purple color.
Did you know?Empurple is a real English verb formed from the prefix em- (“to put into”) plus purple, and it survives as a rare, almost spell-like transformation word.
Etymological Timeline
Proto-Indo-European
PIE
*per-
“to strike, to beat, to pierce”
Latin
Latin
purpura
“purple dye; purple cloth”
Late Latin
Latin
purpura
“purple color”
Old French
Old French
pourpre
“purple, purple dye”
Middle English
English
purpre / purple
“purple color or cloth”
16th Century
English
empurple
“to make purple; to tinge with purple”
Modern English
English
empurple
“to color or suffuse with purple”