## Meanings
1. To take in and fully understand new information or ideas.
2. To become part of a community or culture, or to make someone part of it.
3. To absorb digested food into the body.

## Examples
- It takes time to assimilate everything you learn in the first week.
- Many immigrants work hard to assimilate into their new country.
- The body assimilates nutrients from food during digestion.

## Derived Forms
- assimilatable
- assimilative
- assimilatory
- bioassimilated
- deassimilate
- disassimilate
- nonassimilated
- photoassimilate
- reassimilate
- unassimilated

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: *sem-
- Root: assimilaten
- Root: assimilātus
- Root: assimulātus

## Etymology
First attested in the early 15ᵗʰ century, in Middle English; Middle English assimilaten (“to become similar; to make like”), from assimilat(e) (“assimilated”, also used as the past participal of assimilaten) + -en (verb-forming suffix), borrowed from Late Latin assimilātus, variant of Latin assimulātus (“made similar, imitated”), perfect passive participle of assimulō (see -ate (verb-forming suffix)), from ad + simulō (“to imitate, copy”), from similis (“like, similar”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *sem- (“together, one”). Doublet of assemble.

## AI Etymology
Assimilate is first attested in the early 15ᵗʰ century, in Middle English; Middle English assimilaten (“to become similar; to make like”), from assimilat(e) (“assimilated”, also used as the past participal of assimilaten) + -en (verb-forming suffix), borrowed from Late Latin assimilātus, variant of Latin assimulātus (“made similar, imitated”), perfect passive participle of assimulō (see -ate (verb-forming suffix)), from ad + simulō (“to imitate, copy”), from similis (“like, similar”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *sem- (“together, one”). Doublet of assemble. The analysis is mainly morphological: the modern verbal form is built from the named base and affix. Important recorded forms include *sem- (Proto-Indo-European), assimilaten (Middle English), assimilātus (la-lat), and assimulātus (Latin). Current senses include to take in and fully understand new information or ideas, to become part of a community or culture, or to make someone part of it, and to absorb digested food into the body. The wider family includes derived forms such as assimilatable, assimilative, assimilatory, bioassimilated, and deassimilate.

## Topics
- Cause, Change & Process
- Actions & Processes
- Word Formation & Derivatives

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