Richens

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

  1. To increase the wealth or resources available to someone or something
  2. To enhance the richness or value of an object, substance, or person through addition or improvement
  3. To augment the quality, abundance, or monetary worth of a certain entity or material so as to make it more opulent

Etymology: The verb in question appears to be a rare or less common form derived from the adjective "rich," which itself comes from the Old English "rice," meaning powerful or wealthy. The suffix "-en" is a common English verbalizer, turning adjectives into verbs that indicate the process of becoming or causing to become the quality described by the root word. Thus, "richen" would mean "to make rich" or "to become rich," and "richens" would be the third-person singular present form of this verb. This pattern of verb formation is well established in English. Similar verbs include "strengthen" (from "strong"), "lengthen" (from "long"), and "darken" (from "dark"), all of which describe the process of acquiring or causing the quality in question. The verb form likely emerged in Middle English as a natural extension of the adjective, though it never became as commonly used as some of its analogues. While "richen" and its conjugations exist, they are somewhat archaic or poetic in tone today. Instead, English speakers typically use phrases like "make rich" or "enrich," the latter being a direct borrowing from Old French "enrichir," itself from Latin roots. The coexistence of "richen" and "enrich" reflects different paths of verbal formation in English: native morphological derivation versus borrowing from Romance languages. In summary, the verb form under discussion evolved as a straightforward morphological creation from the adjective "rich," employing a native English suffix to express the act of gaining or bestowing wealth or abundance. Although overshadowed by the borrowed "enrich," it remains a clear example of English's flexible word-formation processes.

Synonyms: enriches, enhances

Antonyms: impoverishes, depletes