edify

Meanings

1. 1
   verb

   To improve someone morally or intellectually through teaching.

   The lecture series was meant to edify and inspire young students.

Simplified etymology

Edify comes from Latin aedificare, “to construct,” formed from aedis, “house” or “dwelling,” and facere, “to make.” In medieval English it meant to build a structure, but it soon acquired the figurative sense of building someone up morally or intellectually.

From Old French edifier (“to build, to edify”), from Latin aedificare (“build”).

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External links

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• Cambridge Dictionary
• Wiktionary