Etymologically
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explain

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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
  • 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.