execute

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˈek.sɪ.kjuːt/^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English executen, borrowed from Middle French executer,^[2][3][4] which Barnhart and Merriam-Webster explain as a back-formation from executeur (“executor”),^[2][4] and Hoad, Etymonline and the NODE take from Medieval Latin executō.^[3][5][6] Both go back to the past participle stem of Latin exsequor (“to follow out, carry out, punish”), from ex- (“out”) and sequor (“to follow”) (see sequel),^[2][3][5][6] from Proto-Indo-European *sekw- (“to follow”).^[3] The Latin verb also meant to follow to the grave, and to punish or avenge.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

To carry out, perform, accomplish: about 1385 in Chaucer's Canterbury Tales in Barnhart,^[2] about 1386 in the OED, the late 14th century in Etymonline.^[7][3]

Semantic evolution

Barnhart dates carrying a law or judgement into effect to before 1393,^[2] the OED to 1413.^[7] Carrying out a will is from 1463.^[7] The sense to put to death is first recorded in 1483, in Caxton's translation of Cato;^[2] it grew partly out of carrying out a sentence on someone and partly out of the Latin sense to punish.^[2][3] Performing an action or movement is from 1477,^[7] and in law, completing a deed by signing and sealing it, from 1737.^[7][5] Execution is from the 14th century, executioner from the 16th, and executive from the 17th, first as a noun in the United States in the 18th.^[5]

Timeline

• c. 1385 – to carry out, accomplish.^[2]
• before 1393 – to carry a judgement into effect.^[2]
• 1463 – to carry out a will.^[7]
• 1477 – to perform a movement.^[7]
• 1483 – to put to death.^[2]
• 1737 – to make a deed valid.^[7]

Modern meaning

Verb

1. To put to death, especially as a legal penalty.
2. To carry out; to accomplish.
3. To perform a movement or action: to execute a pirouette.
4. To make a work of art according to a design.
5. (law) To make a legal document valid, as by signing it.
6. To carry a judicial sentence or law into effect; to enforce.

Word family

• executable
• executer
• unexecuted
• executrix
• outexecute
• reexecute
• self-executing

Related words

• executive
• execution
• executor
• sequel
• sequence
• prosecute

References

1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
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 Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. ^ a b c d Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ 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