embiggen
Meanings
Verb
- To enlarge; to make or become bigger.
Origin / Etymology
From em- + biggen or big + em- -en, possibly analogous to belittle. The morphology parallels that of enlarge (en- + large) or embolden (em- + bold + -en).
The verb's first recorded use is in an 1884 edition of the British journal Notes and Queries: A Medium of Intercommunication for Literary Men, General Readers, Etc. by C. A. Ward (see quotation below).
The word’s current popularity follows its deployment as an intentionally ungainly form by television writer David X. Cohen for The Simpsons episode “Lisa the Iconoclast” in 1996.
Scrabble Score: 14
embiggen is a valid Scrabble (US) TWL wordembiggen is not valid in Scrabble (MW) Merriam-Webster Dictionary
embiggen is not valid in International Collins CSW Dictionary
Words With Friends Score: 0
embiggen is not valid in Words With Friends