Develop | Vocabulary | Khan Academy

Prepare yourselves for some advanced language wordsmiths, because it's time for us to develop our vocabularies. That's right, the word I'm focusing on in this video is develop. Develop is a verb; it means to grow larger or more complex, to build, or improve. The noun form is development, which can mean how someone or something grows, or a building project.

Now, let's develop our understanding of this word by breaking it down into parts. The "duh" part is just another form of the Latin "dis," meaning not or away, and "velop" comes from a French word that means to wrap up or to roll up. But its origins beyond that are uncertain. I love word mysteries like that! So, what this word means is the opposite of rolling or wrapping something up; we're developing it. We're unrolling it. Imagine a map being unrolled over a table or a suitcase being unpacked so you can plan a trip or choose an outfit. You're expanding in something in size, unzipping the suitcase, stretching the map out to its fullest extent. That's what development literally means.

But those are the pieces we have: "du" and "velop." Can you think of words that contain those word parts?

Let's go!

[10 seconds music]

Welcome back! Here are some words I came up with. The first two are very similar. There's "envelop," the verb, which means to roll or cover something up, right? "In" means "in," "envelop" means to roll, so it's something that's been rolled up in something else. Then there's the related noun "envelope," which some people pronounce "envelope," which is a container of some kind, like a paper envelope or envelope for sending a letter.

And with "d," we have "destabilize," to make something unstable, not stable. This can be literal; the stool's leg cracked, destabilizing it. Or it can be figurative; the news that Helen's mother had been a wizard this whole time was psychologically destabilizing.

Those are words made up from parts of "develop." In music, the term "development" refers to a part of the piece where you explore variations on your initial theme.

So let's get to the development and use this word in a few different sentences. Over many millions of years, sea slugs developed a wild variety of natural defenses. These defenses are so wild! Y'all, some of them eat jellyfish and steal jellyfish stinger cells to protect themselves with. What a strange technique to have evolved or developed! It has matured; it's become more advanced. Once they were defenseless little sea slugs, but now they have jellyfish stingers in their tentacles.

Okay, let me use it figuratively. Jenna developed her essay's argument over numerous revisions. She built it out; she made it better. She's not literally building something physical; she's developing ideas.

Okay, now let's see one that uses the noun form of the word "develop," "development." The new mayor pursued a big housing development on the site of the old soda factory. A housing development is when you turn something into housing, right? Here's this abandoned soda factory, and now the mayor wants to redevelop it, wants to build something there to make something new out of what had been there previously.

I have to wonder what it would be like to live in an apartment that used to be a factory not too long ago. When I lived in Chicago, there was this chocolate factory that made all of downtown smell like chocolate brownies. I always wondered what it would be like to live in that part of the city. Let that idea develop in your head. What kind of factory would you most want to live near, or what kind of factory would you most like to live in?

Well, I think I've pretty well developed your understanding of this word. You can learn anything.