entry
edifice
/ˈɛd.ɪ.fɪs/a large, formal building or structure
From Latin aed (temple) + Latin fac (to make).
from PIE *eidh- "to burn, burning" (source also of Sanskrit inddhe "burst into flames;" Avestan aesma- "firewood;"...
from Latin aedificium "building,"
from Old French edifice "building" (12c.)
+1 more sourcefrom Old French edifice "building" (12c.)
+1 more sourceWord Ancestry
from PIE *eidh- "to burn, burning" (source also of Sanskrit inddhe "burst into flames;" Avestan aesma- "firewood;"...
from Latin aedificium "building,"
from Old French edifice "building" (12c.)
+1 more sourcefrom Old French edifice "building" (12c.)
+1 more sourceA temple and a workshop walk into a word, and out comes edifice. The first half points to aedis, a place with a hearth — not just any house, but the kind of sacred, fire-centered space where a building felt alive. The second half comes from facere, Latin for “to make,” the same family that gave us factory, facile, and edify, so this is literally a thing made for shelter or worship. Even the deeper ancestry gets smoky: the aed- side is tied to a root meaning “to burn,” which means this sturdy word is haunted by fire in the rafters. By the time French borrowed it and English picked it up in the late 14th century, the word had become the perfect grand label for anything that looked too impressive to call merely a building.
The Story
A temple and a workshop walk into a word, and out comes edifice. The first half points to aedis, a place with a hearth — not just any house, but the kind of sacred, fire-centered space where a building felt alive. The second half comes from facere, Latin for “to make,” the same family that gave us factory, facile, and edify, so this is literally a thing made for shelter or worship. Even the deeper ancestry gets smoky: the aed- side is tied to a root meaning “to burn,” which means this sturdy word is haunted by fire in the rafters. By the time French borrowed it and English picked it up in the late 14th century, the word had become the perfect grand label for anything that looked too impressive to call merely a building.
Kin & Kindred
From 'aed'·temple, house, sacred building
Derived Terms
English words from this root
From 'fac'·to make, do
Derived Terms
English words from this root