eraser

Etymology

It is formed from English erase + -er.^[2][3][4] Erase is from Latin ērādō (“to scrape out”), formed from ē- (“out”) and rādō (“to scrape, scratch”),^[2][5][4] the source also of raze.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

A person or thing that erases: 1728, in the London newspaper the Post-Man and Historical Account.^[2] Etymonline and Merriam-Webster date the word to 1790,^[4][6][7] Etymonline as an American word for a thing that erases writing,^[4] and Dictionary.com to 1780–90.^[3]

Semantic evolution

According to Etymonline the first erasers were knives for scraping ink off the page, and the word was applied to a piece of rubber for rubbing out pencil marks from 1858.^[4] Merriam-Webster Unabridged still records the steel eraser, a handled blade for scraping out writing, beside the rubber eraser, the ink eraser and the felt or sponge block for cleaning a blackboard.^[6] The OED notes that in later use the word most often means a piece of soft rubber or plastic.^[2]

Timeline

• 1728 – a person or thing that erases.^[2] Etymonline dates the word to 1790, at first for a knife used to scrape off ink.^[4]
• 1858 – a piece of rubber for removing pencil marks.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. A piece of rubber or plastic used to rub out pencil or ink marks: the eraser on the end of a pencil.^[8][6][2][9]
2. A felt pad or sponge block used to wipe chalk or marker from a blackboard or whiteboard.^[6][7]
3. A bladed instrument with a handle, used to scrape out writing; a steel eraser.^[6]
4. A person or thing that erases.^[2][6]

Related words

• erase
• erasure
• raze
• abrade

Usage notes

Merriam-Webster Unabridged gives the pronunciation with /z/ as chiefly British, beside the American /s/.^[6]

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
4. ^ a b c d e f g h Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
6. ^ a b c d e f g Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
7. ^ a b Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
8. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
9. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin