eradicate

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English eradicaten,^[2][3][4] borrowed from Latin ērādīcātus, the past participle of ērādīcō (“to root out, extirpate”),^[3][5][6] formed from ē- (“out”), a form of ex- before r, and rādīx (“root”).^[3][6][7] The Latin noun is the source of radical and radish and is related to root.^[7] Ayto calls eradicate an analogous formation to uproot,^[7] and Etymonline notes the native Middle English equivalent outroten (“to root out”).^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

To root out, of an ulcer, in the Middle English translation of Chauliac's surgery, before 1425, where it is glossed out roted and vnroted.^[2][3] The OED, not fully revised, has an adjective eradicate, rooted out, from 1533,^[6] and its first record of the verb, "to pull up by the roots", is from Bullein in 1564;^[6] Merriam-Webster dates the verb to 1532.^[8]

Semantic evolution

In the 16th and 17th centuries the word was often used literally of plants and trees, but since then the figurative "remove totally" has taken over.^[7] The OED records "to remove entirely, get rid of" from 1647,^[6] and the Shorter Oxford from the early 17th century.^[9] Johnson (1755) gave both, "to pull up by the root" and "to completely destroy".^[10] A mathematical sense, to extract the square root of a number, is recorded only in 1610.^[6]

Timeline

• before 1425 – to root out (an ulcer), in Middle English.^[2][3]
• 1533 – adjective, rooted out (obsolete by 1556).^[6]
• 1564 – to pull up by the roots.^[6]
• 1610 – mathematics, to extract the square root (obsolete).^[6]
• 1647 – to remove entirely, to get rid of.^[6]

Meanings

Verb

1. To do away with something completely; to destroy, obliterate or stamp out: The campaign aimed to eradicate the disease within a decade.^[11][8][6]
2. To pull up a plant, such as a weed, by the roots; to uproot.^[11][8][6]

Word family

• eradicable
• eradication
• eradicative
• eradicator

Related words

• ineradicable
• radical
• root
• radish
• radix

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
3. ^ a b c d e Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
4. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
5. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b c d Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
8. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
9. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
10. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
11. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins