embelir

Embelir is a verb in Portuguese that conveys the act of making something more beautiful by adding decorative elements or enhancing its appearance. It can refer to physical objects, spaces, or environments, as well as to non-physical matters such as a narrative, presentation, or scene. The sense is closely related to synonyms like embelezar and enfeitar, though embelir carries a more literary or archaic nuance in modern usage.

Etymology and usage: The term is considered older or regional in many varieties of Portuguese. It is commonly viewed as a variant or historical form of the verb meaning to beautify, with the standard modern form being embelezar. The word is sometimes discussed in linguistic sources as having possible connections to French embel(l)ir, as well as to the Latin-root bel- (beautiful). In contemporary writing, embelir is typically encountered in literary, historical, or formal contexts rather than in everyday speech.

Grammatical note: Embelir is a regular verb in dialects where it is preserved, though in standard contemporary Portuguese the preferred term is usually embelezar. Conjugation patterns, where used, follow the regular conjugation of -ir verbs or appear in older forms documented in philological sources. Because of its rarity in everyday language, it is most often found in texts aiming for a classical or elevated register.

See also: embelezar, enfeitar, beleza, estética.