Empower

How to spell empower

7 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce empower

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does empower mean?

1. verbTo give someone the confidence, means, or freedom to take control and act for themselves.
2. verbTo give a person or body the official authority or legal power to do something.

Empower in a sentence

• Good training can empower staff to make decisions without constant approval.

• The contract will empower the agent to sign documents on your behalf.

• The new budgeting app helps empower people to manage their own money.

• The new law would empower councils to fine illegal dumping.

Where does empower come from?

Language of origin: French

This is an English-made compound built from the prefix em- and the noun power. The prefix is simply en-, the old French-derived element meaning 'to put into' or 'to cause to be', which regularly shifts its spelling to em- before the letters b, p, and m, which is exactly why we write empower rather than enpower. Power itself reached English through Old French poeir or povoir, descended from the Vulgar Latin potere and ultimately the Latin posse, meaning 'to be able'. The verb empower appears from the early 1600s, originally in a formal and legal sense of granting someone the authority to act. Its softer modern sense, making a person feel stronger and more in control of their own life, grew in popularity through the twentieth century and is now the dominant everyday meaning. The spelling trap is purely the em- opening, since the ear hears a faint 'im' and writers must remember it follows the b/p/m rule.

How the word is built

• em- (causative prefix, a form of en- meaning 'to put into' used before b, p, and m)
• power (ability, authority)