assimilate

Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
assimilate/əˈsɪməleɪt/

▶verb

• 1 take in and fully understand (information or ideas).

  ■ (of a society or culture) absorb and integrate (people, ideas, or culture).

• 2 absorb and digest (food or nutrients).

• 3 regard as or become similar.

• 4 Phonetics make (a sound) more like another in the same or next word.

– derivatives
assimilable adjective,
assimilation noun,
assimilative adjective,
assimilator noun,
assimilatory adjective.

– origin ME: from L. assimilat-, assimilare ‘absorb, incorporate’, from ad- ‘to’ + similis ‘like’.