Enlightening

How to spell enlightening

12 letters · 4 syllables

How to pronounce enlightening

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does enlightening mean?

1. adjectiveGiving greater knowledge, insight, or understanding about a subject.

Enlightening in a sentence

• The documentary about pension reform was genuinely enlightening.

• She found the workshop on tax planning surprisingly enlightening.

Where does enlightening come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

This word is built on a thoroughly native English foundation. At its heart is the Old English noun and adjective 'leoht', meaning brightness or radiance, a word shared with Dutch 'licht' and German 'Licht'. From it came the verb 'lighten', meaning to make bright or to fill with light, and during the late sixteenth century the prefix 'en-', borrowed from French and ultimately Latin where it means 'to make' or 'to put into', was attached to form 'enlighten'. While 'enlighten' could once mean literally to shed light on something, it quickly took on the figurative sense of giving someone knowledge or spiritual insight, dispelling the darkness of ignorance. The present participle 'enlightening' simply turns that idea into a describing word for anything that broadens understanding, and the spelling trap lies in remembering that the silent 'gh' of 'light' survives unchanged in the middle.

How the word is built

• en- (to make, cause to be)
• light (Old English leoht: brightness)
• -en (verb-forming suffix)
• -ing (participle/adjective suffix)