English
improve
Improve comes from Anglo-Norman emprouwer, from Old French en- + prou ‘profit’, from Vulgar Latin prode ‘advantageous’.
- Vulgar Latinc. 100–700 CEprode1‘advantageous, profitable’
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400prou1‘profit’
- Anglo-Normanc. 1066–1400emprouwer1
- Englishearliest quotation a. 1678improve1
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
- 1 Wiktionary, English improve
- Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: a. 1678, Isaac Barrow, (please specify the chapter name or sermon number): “We shall especially honour God, by discharging faithfully those…”.
Lineage
- Vulgar Latinc. 100–700 CEprodeWiktionary, English improve‘advantageous, profitable’
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400prouWiktionary, English improve‘profit’
- Anglo-Normanc. 1066–1400emprouwerWiktionary, English improve
- Englishearliest quotation a. 1678improveWiktionary, English improve. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: a. 1678, Isaac Barrow, (please specify the chapter name or sermon number): “We shall especially honour God, by discharging faithfully those…”
Word family
English words that share an ancestor with improve, grouped by the ancestor they share, most familiar first.
through Latin sum ‘to be’
through Latin prōsum ‘to be useful’
15 more relatives in the full family tree
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Today it means
verb To make (something) better; to increase the value or productivity (of something).
Sources
Sources: Wiktionary, “improve”. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.
Etymograph / Vulgar Latin prode / improve