Etymology
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embalm (v.)

late 14c., embaumen "to apply balm or ointment; to embalm a corpse," from Old French embaumer, earlier embausmer, "preserve (a corpse) with spices," from assimilated form of en- "in" (see en- (1)) + baume "balm" (see balm) + verbal suffix -er. Balm in Middle English also had a specific sense of "aromatic preparation for embalming dead bodies." The -l- was inserted in English 1500s in imitation of Latin. Related: Embalmed; embalming.

Entries linking to embalm

en- (1)
word-forming element meaning "in; into," from French and Old French en-, from Latin in- "in, into" (from PIE root *en "in"). Typically assimilated before -p-, -b-, -m-, -l-, and -r-. Latin in- became en- in French, Spanish, Portuguese, but remained in- in Italian.

Also used with native and imported elements to form verbs from nouns and adjectives, with a sense "put in or on" (encircle), also "cause to be, make into" (endear), and used as an intensive (enclose). Spelling variants in French that were brought over into Middle English account for parallels such as ensure/insure, and most en- words in English had at one time or another a variant in in-, and vice versa.
balm (n.)
c. 1200, basme, "oily, resinous aromatic substance exuding naturally from shrubs of the genus Commiphora," from Old French basme, baume, balme "balsam, balm" (12c., Modern French baume), from Latin balsamum, from Greek balsamon "balsam," from Hebrew (Semitic) basam "spice," which is related to Aramaic busma, Arabic basham "balsam, spice, perfume." The spelling was refashioned 15c.-16c. on the Latin model. Compare balsam.

As the name of a tree from which it comes, late 14c.; from mid-15c. extended to various fragrant garden herbs. Also by extension, "any aromatic preparation used in healing wounds or soothing pain, or as a perfume or in anointing" (late 14c.). Hence the transferred sense of "healing or soothing influence" (1540s). Biblical Balm of Gilead (esteemed for its medicinal properties) is from Coverdale (Jeremiah viii.22); the Hebrew word there is tsori, which was rendered in Septuagint and Vulgate as "resin" (Greek rhetine, Latin resina).
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Definitions of embalm

embalm (v.)
preserve a dead body;
From wordnet.princeton.edu

Dictionary entries near embalm

emancipator

emancipatory

emarginate

emasculate

emasculation

embalm

embankment

embargo

embark

embarkation

embarras

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