To remove coarseness, vulgarity, or thick material from something; to refine or purify by eliminating grossness.
From de- (remove) + crassus (thick, coarse) + -ify (make or become). 'Crassus' comes from Latin meaning literally thick and metaphorically base or vulgar. The -ify suffix creates a verb meaning to make something into a state.
Medieval and Renaissance scholars used 'decrassify' like we use 'refine' today—wanting to decrassify the mind meant freeing it from vulgar, coarse thinking, connecting physical thickness to intellectual and moral crudeness.
Complete word intelligence in one call. Free tier — 50 lookups/day.