Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- To put into or onto: encapsulate.
- To go into or onto: enplane.
- To cover or provide with: enrobe.
- To cause to be: endear.
- Thoroughly. Used often as an intensive: entangle.
- In; into; within: enzootic.
Wiktionary
GNU Webster's 1913
- A prefix signifying
in orinto , used in many English words, chiefly those borrowed from the French. Some English words are written indifferently withen- orin -. For ease of pronunciation it is commonly changed toem- beforep ,b , andm , as inem ploy,em body,em mew. It is sometimes used to give a causal force, as inen able,en feeble,to cause to be , orto make , able, or feeble; and sometimes merely gives an intensive force, as inen chasten. See in-. - A prefix from Gr. � in, meaning
in . See In-.
Etymologies
- From Middle English en- ("en-, in-"). Originally from Old French en- (also an-), from Latin in- ("in, into"); but also from an alteration of Middle English in-, from Old English in- ("in, into"), from Proto-Germanic *in (“in”). Both Latin and Germanic, from Proto-Indo-European *en (“in, into”). Intensive use of Old French en-, an- due to confluence with Old Frankish *an- (intensive prefix), related to Old English on- (intensive prefix). More at in-, on-. (Wiktionary)
- Middle English, from Old French, from Latin in-, in; see en in Indo-European roots.Middle English, from Latin, from Greek; see en in Indo-European roots. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“In future corporate naming, en- is very likely to be avoided as a prefix, and the suffix -on is off.”
Simon & Schuster: The Right Word in the Right Place at the Right Time
“He's shown to a satin-draped bedroom and a sumptuous en- suite bathroom with a free-standing oval tub.”
“Nearly every thread of Obama’s career runs directly or indirectly through the Midwest Academy, a fact which has gone almost en- tirely unreported.”
“Obama and his liberal cohorts like to bemoan the fact that the United States is the only industrialized nation that doesn’t en- sure health care for every single citizen.”
Lists
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