Delve

How to spell delve

5 letters · 1 syllable

How to pronounce delve

What does delve mean?

1. verbTo search deeply and thoroughly for information about a subject.
2. verbTo dig into the ground or rummage through a container by hand.

Delve in a sentence

• The auditors had to delve into years of tax records.

• He began to delve in his coat pocket for the missing key.

• She wanted to delve deeper into her family history.

• The children liked to delve in the soft garden soil.

Where does delve come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

This word comes straight from the Old English verb delfan, which literally meant 'to dig' with a spade or to turn over the earth. It belongs to the native Germanic layer of English and has close cousins in Dutch delven and Old High German bidelban, all carrying that same sense of digging into the ground. For centuries it kept its plain agricultural meaning, as in the old rhyme about Adam delving and Eve spinning. Over time the literal sense of digging into soil softened into the figurative sense we use most today, namely digging into information, records, or a subject in search of something hidden. The shift from spade-work to research-work is a neat reminder that the modern meaning still pictures someone burrowing patiently below the surface. The spelling stays close to the old root, with the silent-feeling -lve ending that mirrors words like solve and shelve.

How the word is built

• delf- (from Old English delfan: to dig)
• -e