infuse
Meaning
to cause a quality or feeling to be present in something; to fill something with something.
to soak something, especially herbs or tea, in a liquid to extract its flavour or healing properties.
Structure
Usage
the coach tried to infuse the team with a sense of confidence before the final match.
she infuses her green tea with mint leaves for a refreshing flavour.
the new director hopes to infuse the company culture with more creativity and innovation.
Etymology
the word 'infuse' entered english in the late middle english period, borrowed from latin 'infusus', the past participle of 'infundere'. this latin verb is a compound of the prefix 'in-', meaning 'into', and the verb 'fundere', meaning 'to pour'. the literal sense was 'to pour in'. this concrete action evolved metaphorically to describe the process of introducing one substance into another, such as steeping herbs in water, and further abstracted to mean instilling a quality, feeling, or idea into a person or situation, as if pouring it into them. the root 'fundere' is from the proto-indo-European gheu-, meaning 'to pour', which also gives us words like 'foundry', 'fusion', and 'confuse'.
Analysis
in- (latin origin, meaning 'into, in, on, upon', a prefix indicating inward motion or penetration); fuse (latin origin, from 'fundere', meaning 'to pour, melt, cast', a verb root).