embiggen

Betekenis (Engels)

To enlarge; to make or become bigger.

Teenoorgestelde van

ensmallen, debigulate, shrink, diminish, belittle, contract

Vertalings

engrandecer

vergranden

accroître

agrandir

grandir

vergroten

vergrößern

aumentar

engrandecer

agrandar

Uitgespreek as (IPA)

/ɪmˈbɪɡən/

Etimologie (Engels)

From em- + biggen or big + em- -en, possibly analogous to belittle. The morphology parallels that of enlarge (en- + large) or embolden (em- + bold + -en).
The verb's first recorded use is in an 1884 edition of the British journal Notes and Queries: A Medium of Intercommunication for Literary Men, General Readers, Etc. by C. A. Ward (see quotation below).
The word’s current popularity follows its deployment as an intentionally ungainly form by television writer Dan Greaney for The Simpsons episode “Lisa the Iconoclast” in 1996.