affadir

Affadir means to make bland or insipid — a dish losing its flavor, a style losing its edge, an argument losing its force. It's a literary, slightly formal verb more common in writing about food or prose style than in casual speech.

• Trop d'eau affadit la sauce. — Too much water makes the sauce bland.
• La traduction affadit le style de l'original. — The translation dulls the style of the original.
• Son discours s'est affadi au fil des années. — His speech has grown blander over the years.

Learners confuse affadir (to make bland/dull) with attendrir (to make tender/soften emotionally) — affadir is always about loss of intensity or flavor, never about tenderness.

Often confused with attendrir.