DictionaryRoot: en-
Old French
en-
in, into; make or put into a state
Forms
- en-
- em- — The final sound changes before b, p, or m.
Origin
Old French en- chiefly continues Latin in-, “in, into.”
Note
An abstract state can be treated like a place that something enters.
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verb
embezzle
em-BEZ-uhl/ɪmˈbezl/
To steal money or property entrusted to one's care.
Etymology
With the prefix, besillier “destroy, gouge” became a verb meaning “steal, cause to disappear,” later applied to fraudulent appropriation of money. The ancestry of besillier itself is unknown.