Appetizes

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. To stimulate the appetite, making one feel hungry or desire food
2. To create a sensation of hunger through enticing smells or visuals of food
3. To provoke a craving for food, often through appetizing presentation or aroma

Etymology: "Appetizes" is the third-person singular present form of the verb "appetize," which means to stimulate hunger or a craving for food. The verb itself is a back-formation: it was created by stripping the ending off an existing word, in this case "appetizing," the adjective and present participle describing something that whets the appetite. English speakers apparently saw "appetizing" as a base form and derived the verb from it, rather than the reverse. The adjective "appetizing" is built from "appetite," which came into English from Old French "apetit," from Latin "appetitus," meaning a desire or longing, from "appetere," to seek after. The "-izing" ending is the ordinary English suffix that turns a noun or adjective into a verb meaning to make or cause something, so "appetize" literally means to make someone want something. That same pattern produced verbs like "civilize" and "modernize," though "appetize" arose from the adjective rather than from a noun.

Synonyms: entices, stimulates, savors, invites, arouses

Antonyms: disgusts, repels, offends, alienates, deters