excerpt

Etymology

The verb is borrowed from Latin excerptus (“picked out”), the past participle of excerpō (“to pluck out, pick out, select”),^{[2][3][4][5][6]} formed from ex- (“out”) and carpō (“to pluck, gather”),^[3][4][7][8] with the vowel of carpō changed in the compound.^[6][9] Etymonline traces the Latin verb to Proto-Indo-European *kerp- (“to gather, pluck, harvest”),^[3][5] the root of harvest.^[4][8] It was perhaps partly developed from the earlier English past participle excerpte (“taken from a book”).^[4][3] The noun is borrowed from Latin excerptum (“an extract, selection”), the neuter of excerptus used as a noun,^{[2][3][7][10]} though Barnhart allows that in some cases it is the verb used as a noun.^[4] *excarpsus (“picked out”), the past participle of *excarpō, an altered form of excerpō, is the source of scarce.^[11]

Earliest recorded meaning

As a past participle, "excerpted, taken out of a book": in a translation of Higden's Polychronicon, probably composed before 1425.^[2][4][3] The verb proper, "to pick out passages", is first recorded about 1536, in a letter of Cardinal Wolsey.^[2][4]

Semantic evolution

The verb kept the Latin literal sense "to pluck out, remove" for a time (1552–1631), but its lasting sense was to pick out and quote passages from a written work.^[2] The noun, a passage taken from a book or manuscript, follows before 1638, in Joseph Mede,^[2][4][3] and was extended to passages of music and other works.^[12][10] From 1883 an excerpt was also an article from a learned society's Transactions printed separately, an offprint, a sense now rare.^[2][10] Since the 1970s the verb has also meant to publish excerpts from a book, especially one not yet out, in a newspaper or magazine.^[2]

Timeline

• before 1425 – excerpte, taken from a book (past participle).^[4][2]
• c. 1536 – verb, to pick out and quote passages.^[2][4]
• 1552 – verb, to pluck out, remove (obsolete by 1631).^[2]
• before 1638 – noun, a passage taken from a book; an extract.^[2][4]
• 1883 – noun, an offprint.^[2][10]
• 1976 – verb, to publish excerpts from a book in a periodical.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. A passage or short part taken from a book, speech, film or piece of music: The choir sang an excerpt from the oratorio.^[13][12][2]
2. (rare) An offprint of an article.^[2][10]

Verb

1. To take out a passage from a larger work in order to quote or reproduce it; to extract: The editor excerpted three letters for the anthology.^[13][12][2]
2. To publish excerpts from a book in a newspaper or magazine.^[2]

Word family

• excerption
• excerpter
• excerptible

Related words

• carpet
• scarce
• harvest

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
5. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
6. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
7. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ a b Skeat, Walter W. (1911), A Concise Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, new ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
9. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
10. ^ a b c d e Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
11. ^ Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
12. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
13. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins