augment

English

WOTD – 3 March 2010

Etymology

From Middle English, borrowed from Old French augmenter, from Late Latin augmentare (“to increase”), from Latin augmentum (“an increase, growth”), from augere (“to increase”).

Pronunciation

• Verb:
  • (UK) IPA^(key): /ɔːɡˈmɛnt/
  • (US) IPA^(key): /ɑɡˈmɛnt/

  • Audio (US)

    (file)

  • Rhymes: -ɛnt
• Noun:
  • (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈɔːɡmənt/
  • (US) IPA^(key): /ˈɑɡmənt/

• Audio (AU)

  (file)

• Hyphenation: aug‧ment

Verb

augment (third-person singular simple present augments, present participle augmenting, simple past and past participle augmented)

1. (transitive) To increase; to make larger or supplement.

   The money from renting out a spare room can augment a salary.

2. (intransitive, reflexive) To grow; to increase; to become greater.
3. (music) To slow the tempo or meter, e.g. for a dramatic or stately passage.
4. (music) To increase an interval, especially the largest interval in a triad, by a half step (chromatic semitone).
5. (grammar, transitive) To add an augment to.

Translations

to increase, make larger or supplement

• Bulgarian: увеличавам (bg) (uveličavam), прибавям (bg) (pribavjam)
• Catalan: augmentar (ca)
• Czech: rozšířit (cs), zvětšit (cs)
• Dutch: vergroten (nl), verhogen (nl), aanvullen (nl)
• Finnish: lisätä (fi), kasvattaa (fi), laajentaa (fi)
• French: augmenter (fr)
• German: vergrößern (de), erhöhen (de), vermehren (de)
• Ido: augmentar (io)
• Interlingue: augmentar
• Italian: aumentare (it), crescere (it)
• Japanese: 増やす (ja) (fuyasu)

• Korean: 증가시키다 (jeunggasikida)
• Latin: accumulō
• Lithuanian: padidinti
• Maori: whakakaurahi
• Norwegian: øke (no)
• Portuguese: aumentar (pt)
• Russian: (increase/make larger) увели́чивать (ru) impf (uvelíčivatʹ), увели́чить (ru) pf (uvelíčitʹ), (supplement) дополня́ть (ru) impf (dopolnjátʹ), допо́лнить (ru) pf (dopólnitʹ)
• Spanish: aumentar (es), incrementar (es)
• Swedish: öka (sv)
• Turkish: çoğaltmak (tr), artırmak (tr)

to become greater

• Bulgarian: увеличавам се (uveličavam se)
• Catalan: augmentar (ca)
• Czech: nabýt (cs), vzrůst (cs), vyrůst (cs)
• Dutch: verhogen (nl)
• Finnish: kasvaa (fi), laajeta (fi)
• French: s'accroître (fr), s'agrandir (fr)
• German: wachsen (de), zunehmen (de)

• Italian: aumentarsi, accrescersi (it)
• Japanese: 大きくなる (ookiku naru), 増える (ja) (fueru)
• Portuguese: aumentar (pt)
• Russian: увели́чиваться (ru) impf (uvelíčivatʹsja), увели́читься (ru) pf (uvelíčitʹsja)
• Turkish: çoğalmak (tr), artmak (tr)

to slow the tempo or meter

• Bulgarian: забавям (bg) (zabavjam)
• Catalan: augmentar (ca)
• Dutch: vergroten (nl)

• Finnish: augmentoida, harventaa (fi)
• French: élargir le mouvement

to increase an interval by a half step

• Catalan: augmentar (ca)
• Dutch: vergroten (nl)

• Finnish: laajentaa (fi)
• French: augmenter l'intervalle

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout#Translations.

Translations to be checked

• French: (1) ^{(please verify)} augmenter (fr)
• Interlingua: (1) ^{(please verify)} augmentar
• Italian: (1) ^{(please verify)} aumentare (it)
• Japanese: ^{(please verify)} 増やす (ja) (fuyasu, 1), ^{(please verify)} 増加する (zoukasuru, 1)

• Latin: (1) ^{(please verify)} augmentare
• Mandarin: ^{(please verify)} 增加 (zh) (1)
• Tagalog: ^{(please verify)} palakihin
• Volapük: (1) ^{(please verify)} xäinön (vo)

References

• “augment” in The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd edition, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1989, →ISBN.

Noun

augment (plural augments)

1. (grammar) In some Indo-European languages, a prefix e- (a- in Sanskrit) indicating a past tense of a verb.
2. (grammar) In some Bantu languages, an additional vowel prepended to the noun prefix.
3. An increase.

Derived terms

• augmentless

Related terms

► English terms derived from the PIE root *h₂ewg-‎ (0 c, 4 e)

• augmentable
• augmentation

Translations

grammar: prefix indicating past tense of verb

• Armenian: նախահավելված (hy) (naxahavelvac)
• Czech: augment m
• Dutch: augment n
• Finnish: augmentti (fi)
• French: augment (fr) m

• German: Augment (de) n, Augmentum n
• Ido: augmento (io)
• Lithuanian: augmentas m
• Polish: augment (pl) m

Further reading

• augment in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• augment in The Century Dictionary, The Century Co., New York, 1911
• augment at OneLook Dictionary Search

Anagrams

• mutagen, negatum

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Catalan

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin augmentum.

Noun

augment m (plural augments)

1. increase, rise, rising

Related terms

• augmentar

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French

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin augmentum.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /oɡ.mɑ̃/

• Audio

  (file)

Noun

augment m (plural augments)

1. (medieval law) part of the estates which the widow could inherit
   • Est aussi conclud et accordé qu'au lieu de douaire dont l'on a accoustumé d'user en France, ladite dame Elisabeth aura pour augment le dot dudit mariage selon l'usage des pais du roy d'Espagne, 166,666 escus d'or sol deux tiers. (marriage contract of the prince of Spain and Ms Elisabeth of France) note: this quote is in Middle French.
2. (grammar) augment

   L'augment syllabique consiste en l’addition d’une syllabe ; l'augment temporel, dans le changement d’une brève en longue.

Related terms

• augmenter

Further reading

• “augment” in le Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).