Etymologically
Log in

delete

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 16 October 2026 at 09:18. This address is a permanent link to this version.
Changes in this edit History

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To destroy or eradicate: 1495 in the OED, 1534 (possibly 1495) in Barnhart, the 1530s in Etymonline; this sense is obsolete.[5][2][3]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