English [ edit ]

Etymology [ edit ]

From em- +‎ biggen or em- +‎ big +‎ -en, possibly analogous to belittle. The morphology parallels that of enlarge (en- + large).[1]

The verb's first recorded use is in an 1884 edition of the British journal Notes and Queries: A Medium of Intercommunication for Literary Men, General Readers, Etc. by C. A. Ward (see quotation below).[2]

The word’s current popularity follows its deployment as an intentionally ungainly form by television writer David X. Cohen for The Simpsons episode “Lisa the Iconoclast” in 1996.

Pronunciation [ edit ]

Verb [ edit ]

embiggen (third-person singular simple present embiggens, present participle embiggening, simple past and past participle embiggened)

Translations [ edit ]

— see enlarge enlarge

See also [ edit ]

References [ edit ]