Fructify derives from Middle English
fructifien and ultimately from the Latin noun
fructus,
meaning "fruit." When the word was first used in English in the 14th
century, it literally referred to the actions of plants that bore fruit;
later it was used transitively to refer to the action of making
something fruitful, such as soil. The word also expanded to encompass a
figurative sense of "fruit," and it is now more frequently used to refer
to the giving forth of something in profit from something else (such as
dividends from an investment).
Fructus also gave us the name of the sugar
fructose, as well as
usufruct, which refers to the legal right to enjoy the fruits or profits of something that belongs to someone else.
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