delete

Pronunciation

• IPA: /dɪˈliːt/, /diˈliːt/^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin dēlētus, the past participle of dēlēre (“to destroy, blot out, efface”),^[2][3][4] a back-formation from dēlēvī, originally the perfect of dēlinere (“to daub, erase by smudging”), from dē- (“away”) and linere (“to smear”) (see liniment).^[2][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

To destroy or eradicate: 1495 in the OED, 1534 (possibly 1495) in Barnhart, the 1530s in Etymonline; this sense is obsolete.^[5][2][3]

Semantic evolution

To strike out or erase written or printed matter is from about 1605.^[2][5][3] Figuratively, to wipe out, is from 1650.^[5] In 1937 it meant to withdraw a record from a catalogue,^[5] and in cytology a chromosome segment is deleted when lost (1929).^[5] Removing data from a computer is the usual modern sense.^[6][7] Deletion is from 1590.^[2]

Timeline

• 1495 – to destroy (obsolete).^[5]
• 1590 – deletion.^[2]
• c. 1605 – to strike out writing.^[2][5]
• 1929 – in genetics.^[5]

Modern meaning

Verb

1. To remove or erase written or printed material, or data in a computer.

Word family

• deletable
• redelete
• deletion

Related words

• liniment
• indelible

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
3. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. ^ a b c d e f g h Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
7. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin