explain

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ɪkˈspleɪn/^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English explanen,^[2][3] borrowed from Latin explānāre (“to make plain or clear, explain; literally, to make level, flatten”),^[3][4][2] from ex- (“out”) and plānus (“flat, level”),^[3][4] from Proto-Indo-European *pele- (“flat; to spread”).^[3] The spelling was altered under the influence of plain.^[3][5] Barnhart suggests that the verb was sometimes a back-formation from the earlier explanation.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

To make clear, make intelligible: about 1425 in Barnhart,^[4] the early 15th century in Etymonline.^[3] The OED's earliest examples are from the 16th century.^[6]

Semantic evolution

Early senses included “to smooth out” (1549) and “to spread out flat, unfold” (1607), both obsolete.^[6][7] In the 17th century it was occasionally used of material things unfolding: Evelyn wrote in 1664 of buds that “explain into leaves”.^[3] “To give details of a matter” is from 1513,^[6] in the early 16th century,^[7] and “to make plain or intelligible” from 1552.^[6] To state the meaning of something, to interpret, is from 1608,^[6] to account for a cause or reason from 1736,^[6] and explain away from 1709.^[6] Johnson (1755) defined it as “to expound; to illustrate; to clear by notes or commentaries”.^[8] Explanation is from before 1382, in the Wycliffe Bible,^[4] explainable from 1610 and explanatory from 1618.^[4]

Timeline

• before 1382 – explanation.^[4]
• c. 1425 – to make clear.^[4]
• 1513 – to give details of a matter.^[6]
• 1549 – to smooth out.^[6]
• 1552 – to make intelligible.^[6]
• 1608 – to interpret.^[6]
• 1709 – explain away.^[6]
• 1736 – to account for.^[6]

Modern meaning

Verb

1. To make plain or understandable; to give details of.
2. To give the meaning of; to define or expound.
3. To give reasons for; to account for or justify.
4. explain oneself: To give reasons for one's actions or words.
5. explain away: To get rid of or make seem unimportant by explanation.

Word family

• explainable
• explainer
• overexplain
• reexplain
• unexplainable
• unexplained
• explain away

Related words

• explanation
• explanatory
• plain
• plane
• plan
• explicate

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 Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
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 Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
5. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.