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Etymology and origin of the English word excise

excise1 tax

Confidence
Probable
Formation
Borrowing
First attested
1494
Borrowed from
Middle Dutch excijs
Ultimate origin
Latin cēnsus

Pronunciation

  • /ˈɛkˌsaɪz/[1]

Etymology

The tax is borrowed from Middle Dutch excijs,[2][3][4][5][6] recorded in Middle Dutch from 1406,[5][7] an apparent alteration of accijs (“tax”) under the influence of Latin excīsus (“cut out”), the past participle of excīdō.[2][3][6] The Dutch word is traditionally derived from Old French acceis (“tax, assessment”), recorded from the 12th century,[3][5][2] from Vulgar Latin *accēnsum,[3][4][6] a verbal noun to *accēnsō (“to tax”), formed from ad- (“to”) and cēnsus (“tax”), the source of census.[5][4][8] Merriam-Webster and Collins instead derive it from assise (“session, assessment”), the source of assize,[9][10] and the American Heritage Dictionary takes it partly from each.[6] The OED notes that in Dutch the words for excise and assize were much confused, both meaning "tax", and that Dutch etymologists see accijs as a corruption of assijs.[5] Dictionary.com derives it instead from Medieval Latin accīsa (“tax”), literally "a cut", from accīdō (“to cut into”).[11] The modern form is Dutch accijns.[9][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Any toll or tax: 1494 in Barnhart,[12][2] before 1513 in the OED, in Fabyan's New Chronicles of England and France.[5]

Semantic evolution

At first the word meant any tax.[5][4] The specific sense, a duty on goods produced or sold within a country, was used first of Holland, by Spenser before 1599,[5][7] and in 1643, after the Dutch example, the excise was officially adopted in England.[4][7][13] The tax was unpopular: Johnson's Dictionary (1755) defined it as "a hateful tax levied upon commodities".[4][13] The English sense was later narrowed to duties on home-produced goods, as against customs on imports.[4] By 1785, in Cowper, the Excise was also the government office that collected it.[5] The verb, to put an excise on something, is recorded from 1652;[5][9] its sense "to overcharge" survives in northern English and Shropshire dialect.[5][9][14]

Timeline

  • 1494 – a toll or tax.[2] The OED's first record is before 1513.[5]
  • before 1599 – a duty on home goods, in Holland.[5]
  • 1642 – the duty in England.[5]
  • 1652 – verb, to impose an excise on.[5][9]
  • before 1658 – verb, to make a person pay excise; to overcharge.[5]
  • 1785 – the government department that collects excise.[5]
  • 1789 – the duty in the United States.[5]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A tax on the manufacture, sale or consumption of goods within a country, as on alcohol or tobacco; also called an excise tax.[6][9][10]
  2. A fee paid for a licence to carry on certain trades or activities.[6][10]
  3. (British) The government department responsible for collecting excise.[10][5]

Verb

  1. To levy an excise on.[6][9]
  2. (dialect) To overcharge.[9][14]

Word family

  • exciseman
  • excisable

excise2 cut out

Confidence
Established
Formation
Borrowing
First attested
1578 J. Banister, Historie of Man
Borrowed from
Latin excisus
Ultimate origin
Latin caedō

Pronunciation

  • UK: /ˈɛkˌsaɪz/, /əkˈsaɪz/[1]
  • US: /əkˈsaɪz/[1]

Etymology

The verb meaning to cut out is borrowed from Latin excīsus (“cut out”), the past participle of excīdō (“to cut out”),[5][6][9][15] and Barnhart and Etymonline also take it borrowed from Middle French exciser.[2][3] The Latin verb is formed from ex- (“out”) and caedō (“to cut”),[5][3][4] which Etymonline derives from Proto-Indo-European *kae-id- (“to strike”).[3] Barnhart and Onions compare Sanskrit and Armenian verbs meaning to tear and to prick.[2][7] The same Latin verb is behind concise, decide and incision.[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

To cut or hollow out; to notch: 1578, in John Banister's Historie of Man.[5][2] Etymonline dates it to the 1570s,[3] and Merriam-Webster to 1634.[9]

Semantic evolution

Apart from the botanical and zoological sense of notching, the 17th century used it for circumcision (1634–50) and for cutting a passage out of a text (1663).[5] The surgical sense, to cut out an organ or a growth, is first recorded in 1835–6;[5] it is now the main sense, with the figurative use of removing anything as if by cutting.[9][6] The related noun excision is recorded from 1490, much earlier than the verb.[2][16]

Timeline

  • 1578 – to cut or hollow out; to notch.[5][2]
  • 1634 – to circumcise (obsolete by 1650).[5]
  • 1663 – to cut a passage out of a text.[5]
  • 1835 – to cut out an organ or growth.[5]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To remove by cutting, especially in surgery: The surgeon excised the cyst.[9][6][5]
  2. To remove a passage from a text; to expunge.[5][9]
  3. In botany and zoology, to notch or hollow out, chiefly as excised.[5][9][8]

Word family

  • excision
  • unexcised

References

  1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z 27 28 29 30 31 32 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
  7. ^ a b c d Onions, C. T., ed. (1966), The Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  8. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  9. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  10. ^ a b c d Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
  11. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
  12. ^ Barnhart, Robert K., ed. (1995), The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology, New York: HarperCollins
  13. ^ a b Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
  14. ^ a b Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)
  15. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
  16. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press

Related etymologies

  • golf · also from Middle Dutch
  • grab · also from Middle Dutch
  • kit · also from Middle Dutch
  • clock · also from Middle Dutch
  • deck · also from Middle Dutch
  • hop · also from Middle Dutch
  • cant · also from Middle Dutch
  • brick · also from Middle Dutch
Cite this entry

“Excise.” Etymologically, 1 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/en/excise. Accessed 1 Nov. 2026.

Last edited on . ·