Delect

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. To give someone great pleasure or satisfaction through something appealing or entertaining
2. To charm or enchant someone by offering something delightful or agreeable
3. To please someone greatly by means of something that captures their interest or admiration

Etymology: "Delect" is a rare English word meaning to delight or please, and it reached English straight from Latin "dēlectāre," a verb built from "dē-" (an intensifying prefix) and "lactāre," to entice or allure, which itself comes from "lacere," to entice. Its close relative in English is "delight," which took a different route: it passed through Old French before arriving in English, so the two words are doublets, two forms of one Latin verb that entered the language by separate paths. Delect has an unusual earlier life of its own. In Middle English it was used for a medical purpose, to ease the pain of an ulcer, so the sense of pleasing and the sense of soothing a sore both descend from the same Latin idea of drawing someone in or gently calming them. Where delight took on the broad emotional meaning we know today, delect kept closer to its original, more physical sense of coaxing or soothing.

Synonyms: delight, please, charm

Antonyms: displease, offend