ripen

Reading level: hard

Estimated CEFR level: C1 — Advanced

Estimated from word frequency; not an official CEFR classification.

Definition

  1. verb cause to ripen or develop fully
  2. verb grow ripe

Etymology

From Middle English *ripenen, extended form of ripen, from Old English rīpian. In the modern form, equivalent to ripe + -en (inchoative and factitive suffix). As in several other verbs, the alteration seems to have occurred during the time when the infinitive and plural ending -en was in the process of being lost (and was thus open to reinterpretation). The earliest attestation is deverbal Middle English ripening (“causing ripeness, ripening”).

In classic literature

Synonyms

mature

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