English
explicate
Explicate comes from Latin explicō ‘unfold, explain’, from plicō ‘to fold’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *pleḱ-.
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*pleḱ-‘to fold, plait, weave’reconstructed
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEplicō‘to fold’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEexplicōas explicāre‘unfold, explain’
- Englishearliest quotation 1651explicate
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Lineage
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*pleḱ-‘to fold, plait, weave’reconstructed
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEplicō‘to fold’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEexplicōas explicāre‘unfold, explain’
- Englishearliest quotation 1651explicate
Earliest quotation: 1651, Jeremy Taylor, Of Christian Religion: “It is an act of grace and higheſt honour…”
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *pleḱ- ‘to fold, plait, weave’
complex, fiasco, flax, flack, replication, plexus, flagon, 34 more
through Latin plicō ‘to fold’
apply, display, employment, reply, employ, imply, deploy, ploy, replica, implicit, ply, accomplice, supple, complication, complicity, complicate, pliable, implicate, splay, supplication, pliant, triplicate, 22 more
through Latin explicō ‘unfold, explain’
Today it means
verb To explain meticulously or in great detail.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *pleḱ- / explicate