Befile

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. An archaic verb meaning to make something dirty, impure or morally tainted, or to sully it
2. Old-fashioned term for corrupting or polluting something so that it loses its purity or honour
3. Obsolete word for staining, soiling or contaminating a thing or a person's reputation

Etymology: "Befile" is a compound built from "be-" and "file," where "file" is the old verb meaning "to make foul or dirty," the same root that gave us "defile." The prefix "be-" here works as an intensifier, so the word essentially means "to foul thoroughly." The verb descends from Old English "befȳlan," meaning "to befoul, defile, make dirty," which took shape in Proto-West Germanic as "*bifūlijan," "to make foul." Its relatives survive across the Germanic family: Dutch "bevuilen" and West Frisian "befûlje" both mean "to dirty," and Low German "befulen" carries the sense of soiling or polluting. Scots kept its own version, "befile." In English, the word stayed mostly in the realm of moral and physical contamination, where it still sounds archaic today. Its more familiar sibling, "defile," followed a similar path, so "befile" can be understood as a near-doublet that never became as common.

Synonyms: defile, pollute, sully

Antonyms: cleanse, purify