Enhancement

How to spell enhancement

11 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce enhancement

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does enhancement mean?

1. nounAn improvement that increases the value, quality, or intensity of something.

Enhancement in a sentence

• The software update brought a noticeable enhancement in battery life.

• The new lighting was a clear enhancement to the whole office.

Where does enhancement come from?

Language of origin: French

This noun is built on the verb 'enhance', which English took from Anglo-Norman and Old French 'enhauncer', meaning to raise, lift up, or increase. The Old French form traces back to a Vulgar Latin root '*inaltiare', formed from the prefix 'in-' (here meaning 'to make') and 'altus', the Latin word for 'high', the same root that gives us 'altitude' and 'exalt'. When the word entered English in the 1300s it literally meant to raise something physically higher, and only later did it shift to the figurative sense of raising value, quality, or intensity. The abstract noun was created by adding the French-derived suffix '-ment', which turns a verb into the name of its result. Remembering that the middle is the verb 'hance' from 'high' helps fix the silent flow of 'enhance' before the '-ment' ending.

How the word is built

• en- (to make)
• hance (raise, from Latin altus: high)
• -ment (noun suffix forming a result or action)