Sanguifies

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. Turns something into blood or makes it take on the character of blood, as in converting food or matter into a bloodlike substance
2. Makes a thing bloody, or changes material into blood through a physiological or figurative process
3. Renders something bloody or converts matter into blood, a rare term used in older medical and literary writing

Etymology: "Sanguifies" is the third-person singular form of "sanguify," meaning to turn into blood or to make something bloody. The verb is built from "sangui-," a combining form of Latin "sanguis" meaning "blood," joined to the English suffix "-fy," which comes from Latin "-ficare," used to make verbs meaning "to make or become." The pattern is the same one behind words like "beautify" and "simplify." The root "sanguis" is also the source of "sanguine," which once described a temperament thought to be governed by blood, and now means cheerfully optimistic. French has a parallel verb, "sanguifier," so the English word follows a familiar European pattern of blood-based coinages built on Latin.

Synonyms: sanguinate