DictionaryRoot: en-
Greek
en-
in, within
Forms
- en-
- em- — Used before b, m, or p in Greek compounds.
- el- — Used before l in Greek compounds.
Origin
Reconstructed Proto-Indo-European *en, ‘in.’
Note
Related to Latin in-, but borrowed through a separate Greek route.
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adjective
emphatic
em-FAT-ik/ɪmˈfætɪk/
Expressed or done with force and certainty.
Etymology
The underlying image is of showing something within an expression. Through the rhetorical sense of suggesting extra meaning and stressing it in delivery, emphatic came to describe forceful, strongly expressive words.