Hotten

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. To grow warmer or to cause something to rise in temperature until it becomes noticeably hot
2. Heating up gradually, or making something warmer until it reaches a higher degree of heat
3. Becoming heated over time, or raising the temperature of an object so that it turns hot

Etymology: "Hotten" is a verb meaning to become hot, or to make something hot. It is built the plain way: the adjective "hot" with the suffix "-en," which turns an adjective into a verb meaning "to become or make [that quality]." English has many verbs formed this way, such as "soften," "redden," and "widen," and "hotten" follows the same pattern. Because the word is so transparent, its history is simple. The root "hot" is an old native English word, so the verb is built entirely from older English material rather than borrowed from another language. The "-en" ending has been used to form verbs from adjectives since Old English, and it remains productive, meaning new verbs can still be made this way.

Synonyms: heat, warm, heat up

Antonyms: cool, chill