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
• imbuer
• reimbue
• unimbued

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), impregnar (pt) Romanian: îmbiba (ro), impregna (ro) Russian: пропи́тывать (ru) impf (propítyvatʹ) Spanish: imbuir (es), mojar (es), manchar (es) 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) Spanish: imbuir (es), permear (es), impregnar (es) 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): [ˈɪm.bu.ɛ]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [ˈim.bu.e]

Verb

imbue

1. second-person singular present active imperative of imbuō