imbue

English

Etymology

From Latin imbuō (“wet, moisten”). Compare imbibe.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɪmˈbjuː/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -uː

Verb

imbue (third-person singular simple present imbues, present participle imbuing, simple past and past participle imbued)

1. (transitive) To wet or stain an object completely with some physical quality.

   The shirt was imbued with his scent.

2. In general, to act in a way which results in an object becoming completely permeated or impregnated by some quality.

   The entire text is imbued with the sense of melancholy and hopelessness.

Derived terms

• imbuement

Translations

to wet or stain completely

• Bulgarian: напоявам (bg) (napojavam), насищам (bg) (nasištam)
• Catalan: imbuir (ca)
• Czech: prodchnout pf, prosáknout pf
• Dutch: nat maken,bevlekken (nl)
• Finnish: kyllästää (fi)
• French: imprégner (fr)
• German: tränken (de)
• Hungarian: átitat (hu)
• Italian: permeare (it), tingere (it)
• Japanese: 染める (ja) (そめる, someru, literally “dye”)
• Latin: imbuō
• Portuguese: imbuir (pt)
• Romanian: îmbiba (ro), impregna (ro)
• Russian: пропи́тывать (ru) impf (propítyvatʹ)
• Ukrainian: просо́чувати impf (prosóčuvaty), просочи́ти pf (prosočýty)

to permeate or impregnate completely

• Bulgarian: пропивам (bg) (propivam)
• Catalan: impregnar (ca)
• Czech: prodchnout pf, naplnit (cs) pf, nasytit pf
• Dutch: doortrekken (nl),doordrenken (nl)
• Finnish: kyllästää (fi)
• French: imprégner (fr)
• German: durchdringen (de)
• Hungarian: átitat (hu)
• Italian: impregnare (it), permeare (it)
• Japanese: 吹き込む (ja) (ふきこむ, fukikomu, literally “blow into”)
• Portuguese: imbuir (pt), impregnar (pt)
• Romanian: impregna (ro)
• Russian: насыща́ть (ru) impf (nasyščátʹ)
• Swedish: genomsyra (sv)
• Tocharian B: snätk-
• Ukrainian: просо́чувати impf (prosóčuvaty), просочи́ти pf (prosočýty)

French

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɛ̃.by/

Adjective

imbue

1. feminine singular of imbu

Latin

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /ˈim.bu.e/, [ˈɪmbuɛ]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈim.bu.e/, [ˈimbue]

Verb

imbue

1. second-person singular present active imperative of imbuō