Word of the Day

: March 11, 2009

proliferate

verb pruh-LIF-uh-rayt

What It Means

: to grow or increase in number rapidly

proliferate in Context

"As low rates proliferated, lenders fell over themselves to stuff cash in customers' pockets." (Daniel Gross, Newsweek, August 20/27, 2007)

Did You Know?

"Proliferate" came about in 1873 as a back-formation of "proliferation." That means that "proliferation" came first (we borrowed it from French in the 1850s) and was later shortened to form the verb "proliferate." Ultimately these terms come from Latin. The French adjective "prolifère" ("reproducing freely") comes from the Latin noun "proles" and the Latin combining form "-fer." "Proles" means "offspring" or "descendants," and "-fer" means "bearing." Both of these Latin forms gave rise to numerous other English words. "Prolific" and "proletarian" ultimately come from "proles"; "aquifer" and words ending in "-ferous" have their roots in "-fer."