Strengthen

How to spell strengthen

10 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce strengthen

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does strengthen mean?

1. verbTo make something stronger, more secure, or more effective, or to become so.

Strengthen in a sentence

• Regular savings will strengthen your financial position over time.

• The engineers added steel beams to strengthen the old bridge.

Where does strengthen come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

This is a native English word, built on the Old English noun strengþu (strength), which itself grew from strang, the ancestor of modern 'strong', meaning powerful, firm, or vigorous. The noun added the old -þ suffix, the same one that gives us pairs like 'long' and 'length' or 'wide' and 'width', to turn a quality into a thing. For centuries the noun 'strength' did the work alone, but in the late Middle Ages English began adding the productive verb ending -en, which means 'to make or become', to many adjectives and nouns, giving forms such as 'harden', 'weaken', and 'lengthen'. By around 1400 'strengthen' had settled into use, neatly replacing the older verb 'strength'. The spelling trap lives in the cluster -ngth-, where the 'g' is largely silent and the unstressed final syllable swallows the 'e', so writers must remember the full noun 'strength' still sits intact at the heart of the word.

How the word is built

• strength (from strong
• -th, a noun-forming suffix denoting a state)
• -en (verb suffix meaning 'to make or become')