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Origin and history of increase

increase(v.)

mid-14c., encresen, "become greater in size or number" (intransitive); late 14c., "cause to grow, enlarge" (transitive), from Anglo-French encress-, Old French encreiss-, present participle stem of encreistre, from Latin increscere "to increase, to grow upon, grow over, swell, grow into," from in- "in" (from PIE root *en "in") + crescere "to grow" (from PIE root *ker- (2) "to grow"). Modern English restored the Latin spelling 16c. Related: Increased; increasing.

increase(n.)

late 14c., "action of increasing; results of an increasing," from increase (v.) or from verbs formed from the noun in Old French or Anglo-French. The stress shifted from 18c. to distinguish it from the verb.

also from late 14c.

Entries linking to increase

encrease

obsolete or archaic form of increase.

increasingly(adv.)

late 14c., from increasing (see increase (v.)) + -ly (2).

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decrease
early 15c., decresen (intransitive) "become less, be diminished gradually," from Anglo-French decreiss-, present-participle stem of decreistre, Old French descroistre (12c., Modern French décroître), from Latin decrescere "to grow less, diminish," from de "away from" (see de-) +
wax
"grow bigger or greater," Old English weaxan "to increase, grow" (class VII strong verb; past tense weox, past participle...Saxon, Old High German wahsan, Old Norse vaxa, Old Frisian waxa, Dutch wassen, German wachsen, Gothic wahsjan "to grow, increase..."), from PIE *weg- (source also of Sanskrit vaksayati "cause to grow," Greek auxein "to increase"), extended form of root...*aug- (1) "to increase."...
eke
c. 1200, eken "to increase, lengthen," north England and East Midlands variant of echen from Old English ecan, eacan, eacian..."to increase," probably from eaca "an increase," from Proto-Germanic *aukan (source also of Old Norse auka, Danish öge,...Old Frisian aka, Old Saxon okian, Old High German ouhhon, Gothic aukan), from PIE *aug- (1) "to increase."...
multiply
mid-12c., multeplien, "to cause to become many, cause to increase in number or quantity," from Old French multiplier, mouteplier..."increase, get bigger; flourish; breed; extend, enrich," from Latin multiplicare "to increase," from multiplex (genitive...Intransitive sense of "grow or increase in number or extent" (especially "to have children, produce offspring") is from mid...
multiplication
mid-14c., multiplicacioun, "any increase in size, number, or amount; act or process of increasing in number," from Old French...Latin multiplicationem (nominative multiplicatio), noun of action from past-participle stem of multiplicare "to multiply, increase...
change
c. 1200, "to alter, make different, change" (transitive); early 13c. as "to substitute one for another;" mid-13c. as "to make (something) other than what it was, cause to turn or pass from one state to another;" from late 13c. as "to become different, be altered" (intransitive),
compound
late 14c., compounen, "to put together, to mix, to combine; to join, couple together," from Old French compondre, componre "arrange, direct," and directly from Latin componere "to put together," from com "with, together" (see com-) + ponere "to place" (see position (n.)). The une
jump
1520s, "make a spring from the ground" (intransitive), a word with no apparent source in Old or Middle English, perhaps imitative (compare bump (v.)); another theory derives it from words in Gallo-Roman dialects of southwestern France (such as jumba "to rock, to balance, swing,"

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