PROPITIATE

PRONUNCIATION: (pruh-PISH-ee-ayt)

MEANING: verb tr.: To gain the favor of someone; to appease.

ETYMOLOGY: From Latin propitiare (to make favorable, to appease). Ultimately from the Indo-European root pet- (to rush, fly) which also gave us feather, pin, impetus, pinnacle, helicopter, propitious, lepidopterology, peripeteia, petulant, and pteridology. Earliest documented use: 1583.

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PREPITIATE - payment in advance

PROPITIRATE - 1. people who are in favor of aggressive attack dogs make me angry
2. Ditto people who don't appreciate seedless fruit

PROFITIATE - ...said the baker who enjoyed too much of his own creations