Etymologically
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execute

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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

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