purify

English

Etymology

From Middle English purifien, purifyen, from Old French purifier, purifiier, from Latin pūrificō, pūrificāre, from pūrus (“pure; clean”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈpjʊəɹɪfaɪ/, /ˈpjɔːɹɪfaɪ/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈpjʊɹɪfaɪ/, /ˈpjɝɪfaɪ/

• Audio (Southern England)

  (file)

Verb

purify (third-person singular simple present purifies, present participle purifying, simple past and past participle purified)

1. (transitive) To cleanse, or rid of impurities.
   • 2020 May 4, “Young Practitioners Should Carefully Read “How the Specter of Communism Is Ruling Our World””, in Minghui‎^[1]:

     The modern arts deviate from the standards set forth by the divine—art should be used to purify one’s heart and improve one’s morality.

2. (transitive) To free from guilt or sin.
3. (intransitive) To become pure.

Synonyms

• lustrate (esp. by lustration); luster (obsolete)

Antonyms

• defile

Derived terms

• copurify

Related terms

• puritan

English terms derived from the Proto-Indo-European root *pewH-‎ (0 c, 37 e)

Translations

cleanse something of impurities

• Aghwan: 𐕌𐕒𐕡𐕟𐕒𐕡𐕙𐔱𐔼𐔺𐔴𐕚𐕒𐕡𐕎 (muc̣'urbiyesun)
• Albanian: please add this translation if you can
• Arabic: صَفَّى (ṣaffā)
• Armenian: զտել (hy) (ztel)
• Breton: glanaat (br)
• Bulgarian: пречиствам (bg) (prečistvam)
• Catalan: purificar (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 使純淨／使纯净 (shǐ chúnjìng), 使潔淨／使洁净 (shǐ jiéjìng), 純化／纯化 (zh) (chúnhuà)

• Dutch: zuiveren (nl)
• Egyptian: (qbḥ)
• Esperanto: purigi
• Finnish: puhdistaa (fi), kirkastaa (fi) (alcoholic drinks)
• French: purifier (fr)
• Friulian: purificâ
• Galician: purificar (gl)
• Georgian: please add this translation if you can
• German: reinigen (de)
• Gothic: 𐌷𐍂𐌰𐌹𐌽𐌾𐌰𐌽 (hrainjan)
• Greek: εξαγνίζω (el) (exagnízo)

  Ancient: καθαρίζω (katharízō), ἁγνίζω (hagnízō)

• Hebrew: טיהר (tihér)
• Hungarian: megtisztít (hu)
• Icelandic: please add this translation if you can
• Ido: purigar (io)
• Irish: íonaigh, íonghlan
• Italian: purificare (it)
• Khmer: បន្សុទ្ធ (km) (bɑnsot)
• Latin: purifico, abluō
• Latvian: please add this translation if you can
• Lithuanian: please add this translation if you can
• Maori: whakaparakore, whakahoromata
• Mongolian: please add this translation if you can
• Nepali: शुद्ध बनाउनु (śuddha banāunu), निर्मलीकरण (nirmalīkaraṇ)
• Persian: خالص کردن (fa) (xâles kardan), پالودن (fa) (pâludan)
• Piedmontese: purifiché
• Portuguese: purificar (pt)
• Russian: очища́ть (ru) impf (očiščátʹ), очи́стить (ru) pf (očístitʹ)
• Sanskrit: पवयति (pavayati)
• Spanish: purificar (es)
• Swahili: takasa (sw)
• Swedish: rena (sv)
• Thai: ทำให้บริสุทธิ์, ชำระล้าง
• Tibetan: ལྷད་མེད་བཟོས (lhad med bzos)
• Turkish: arınmak (tr)
• Welsh: puro (cy), pureiddio, glanhau (cy), coethi (cy), teru

free someone from guilt or sin

• Aghwan: 𐕌𐕒𐕡𐕟𐕒𐕡𐕙𐔱𐔼𐔺𐔴𐕚𐕒𐕡𐕎 (muc̣'urbiyesun)
• Dutch: reinigen (nl)
• Esperanto: senpekigi, pekliberigi
• French: purifier (fr)
• German: rein machen
• Gothic: 𐌷𐍂𐌰𐌹𐌽𐌾𐌰𐌽 (hrainjan)
• Greek:

  Ancient: ἁγνίζω (hagnízō)

• Hungarian: megtisztít (hu), feloldoz (hu)
• Ngazidja Comorian: utwahirisha
• Sanskrit: पवयति (pavayati)
• Swahili: kusafisha (sw)