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fructify: msg#00005

culture.language.word-of-the-day

Subject: fructify

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The Word of the Day for July 6 is:

fructify \FRUK-tuh-fye\ verb
*1: to bear fruit
2: to make fruitful or productive

Example sentence:
Fred is in a comfortable financial position these days,
thanks to some investments that have recently begun to fructify.

Did you know?
"Fructify" derives from the Middle English "fructifien" and
ultimately from the Latin noun "fructus," meaning "fruit." When
the word was first used in English in the 14th century, it
literally referred to the actions of plants that bore fruit;
later it was used transitively to refer to the action of making
something fruitful, such as soil. The word also expanded to
encompass a figurative sense of "fruit," and it is now more
frequently used to refer to the giving forth of something in
profit from something else (such as dividends from an
investment). "Fructus" also gave us the name of the
sugar "fructose," as well as "usufruct," which refers to the
legal right to enjoy the fruits or profits of something that
belongs to someone else.

*Indicates the sense illustrated in the example sentence.






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