intensify (English)

Where does "intensify" come from?

The word 'intensify' is a relatively modern English formation created by combining 'intense' with the suffix '-ify.' The root 'intense' traces back to the Latin 'intensus,' meaning 'stretched tight,' which derived from the Proto-Indo-European root '*ten-,' meaning 'to stretch.' Over millennia, the word evolved from this literal physical concept of stretching into our modern sense of increasing in strength or power.

Full etymology tree

• intensify (English), 'To render more intense.'
  • compound intense (English), 'Of a characteristic: extreme or very high or strong in degree; severe; also, excessive, towering.'
    • borrowed intense (Old French)
      • inherited intensus (Latin), 'intent, eager'
        • derived intendō (Latin), 'to stretch out; to strain'
          • prefix in- (Latin), 'un-, non-, not'
            • inherited *ən- (Proto-Italic), 'un-'
              • inherited *n̥- (Proto-Indo-European), 'not, un-'
          • derived tendō (Latin), 'to stretch, stretch out, distend, extend'
            • inherited *tendō (Proto-Italic), 'to stretch'
              • inherited *tend- (Proto-Indo-European), 'to stretch, extend'
                • derived *ten- (Proto-Indo-European), 'to stretch, extend'
  • compound -ify (English), 'Forms transitive verbs meaning "to make" from adjectives and nouns.'
    • borrowed -ifier (Old French)
      • inherited -ificāre (Latin), 'inflection of -ificō:'
        • derived -ficus (Latin), 'Forms adjectives that denote bringing or making.'
          • derived faciō (Latin), 'to do (particularly as a specific instance or occasion of doing)'

Direct ancestors

• intense (English)
• intensifier (French)

Updated June 2026

Etymology data from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · About Miraris