Enhance

How to spell enhance

7 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce enhance

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does enhance mean?

1. verbTo increase or improve the quality, value, or extent of something.

Enhance in a sentence

• A fresh coat of paint can enhance the value of the house.

• Good lighting will enhance the mood of the whole room.

Where does enhance come from?

Language of origin: French

Enhance came into English in the 1300s from the Old French verb enhaucier, meaning 'to raise' or 'to make higher'. That French word grew out of an unrecorded Vulgar Latin form inaltiare, built from the Latin prefix in- (used here to mean 'into' or 'to make') and altus, the ordinary Latin word for 'high' or 'tall', the same root that still sits inside 'altitude' and 'exalt'. The earliest English uses were quite literal, describing lifting something up or raising a price or status, before the sense softened into the modern idea of improving or intensifying a quality. The spelling trap is mostly the silent gap between the n and the h: the word is built on the 'high' root rather than the more obvious 'hand', and the modern ending settled as -ance rather than -aunce as the older French vowels faded. Today we mostly use it figuratively, talking about enhancing flavour, value, or appearance rather than physically raising anything.

How the word is built

• en- (to make, cause to be)
• -hance (from Latin altus: high, raised)