From Latin penētrātus, past participle of penētrō ("to put, set, or place within, enter, pierce, penetrate"), from penes ("within, with") by analogy to intrō ("to go in, enter").

• IPA: /ˈpɛnɪtɹeɪt/, /ˈpɛnətɹeɪt/

penetrate (penetrates, present participle penetrating; simple past and past participle penetrated)

1. To enter into; to make way into the interior of; to pierce.

   Light penetrates darkness.

2. (figuratively) To achieve understanding of, despite some obstacle; to comprehend; to understand.

   I could not penetrate Burke's opaque rhetoric.

   • 1691, John Ray, The Wisdom of God Manifested in the Works of the Creation. […], London: […] Samuel Smith, […], →OCLC ↗:

     things which here were […] too subtile for us to penetrate

3. To affect profoundly through the senses or feelings; to move deeply.

   to penetrate one's heart with pity

   • 1867, Matthew Arnold, On the Study of Celtic Literature:

     The translator of Homer should penetrate himself with a sense of the plainness and directness of Homer's style.

   • 1611 April (first recorded performance), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Cymbeline”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC ↗, [Act II, scene iii]:

     I am advised to give her music o' mornings; they say it will penetrate

4. To infiltrate an enemy to gather intelligence.
5. To insert the penis into an orifice, such as a vagina, mouth or anus.

   a male elephant comes up and penetrates the female

6. (chess) To move a piece past the defending pieces of one's opponent.

• double-penetrate

• French: pénétrer
• German: eindringen, penetrieren
• Italian: penetrare
• Portuguese: penetrar
• Russian: проника́ть
• Spanish: penetrar

• German: penetrieren
• Spanish: penetrar