Improvement
/ɪmˈpruːvmənt/noun
The act or process of making something better, or the state of being better.
Did you know?Improvement entered English through the same profit-making logic as commercial accounting: its earliest sense was an increase in value or advantage, before it became a general word for self-betterment.
Etymological Timeline
Late Middle English
English
improvement
“an increase in value, profit, or advantage”
Middle English
English
improven
“to make profitable; to turn to account”
Old French
Old French
emprouver
“to profit from; to turn to one’s advantage”
Late Latin
Latin
probare
“to test, approve, or prove good”
Proto-Indo-European
PIE
*pro-bhā- / *per-
“to test, try, or advance; the deeper root behind proving and making something better”
Explore more surprising origins