Embody

How to spell embody

6 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce embody

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does embody mean?

1. verbTo be a clear and tangible expression of an idea, quality, or feeling.
2. verbTo include or contain something as a constituent part, especially within a document or design.

Embody in a sentence

• The veteran nurse seemed to embody calm under pressure.

• The new contract will embody all the terms agreed at the meeting.

• A good logo should embody the values of the company.

• The latest model aims to embody several safety features in one frame.

Where does embody come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

This is an English formation built on the native noun body, which comes from the Old English bodig meaning the trunk or physical frame of a person or animal. The prefix em- is a form of en-, borrowed from French and ultimately Latin in, carrying the sense of putting something into or giving it a form. When the two were joined in the middle of the sixteenth century, embody literally meant to put a soul or an idea into bodily form, to clothe it in flesh. From that vivid starting point the meaning broadened to cover anything that gives a concrete, visible shape to an abstract quality, and later to the legal sense of incorporating one thing within another. The spelling trap is the prefix: writers sometimes hesitate between em- and im-, but because the root begins with a b, the m form em- is the correct one.

How the word is built

• em- (in, into)
• body (the physical form)
• -y