Improven

Part of speech: adjective

Definitions

1. An old or obsolete spelling meaning to make better or enhance something
2. The historical version of a verb signifying to bring something to a higher standard or quality
3. An archaic way to say to increase the value, quality, or usefulness of something

Etymology: "Improven" is an older form of the past participle of "improve", the way "proven" survives beside "proved." The verb itself is a good example of a word that picked up a meaning from a mistake in its origins. It arrived in English through Anglo-Norman "emprouwer," built from the Old French prefix "en-" and "prou," meaning "profit," and ultimately from Vulgar Latin "prode," meaning "advantageous." So the original sense was closer to "turn to profit" or "make use of land," which is why the word once had a strong association with farming and property. Yet "improve" also has a separate, older Latin ancestor, "improbare," meaning "disapprove" or "reject." The two words ended up crossing paths in English, with "improve" drawing on the profit sense while sharing a family tree with "improbate," which kept the sense of rejecting something as unworthy. Those two strands are doublets, meaning two English words from the same Latin source that came in by different routes.