English
incise
Incise comes from Middle French inciser, and goes back to Proto-Indo-European *kh₂eyd- ‘to cut, hew’.
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*kh₂eyd-‘to cut, hew’root as named · steps between not traced
- Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600inciser
- Englishearliest quotation 2020incise
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Lineage
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*kh₂eyd-‘to cut, hew’root as named · steps between not traced
- Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600inciser
- Englishearliest quotation 2020incise
Earliest quotation: 2020, Hilary Mantel, The Mirror and the Light: “The executioner’s blade is incised with Christ’s crown of…”
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *kh₂eyd- ‘to cut, hew’
hit, decision, cement, precise, circumcision, concise, chisel, scissor, excision, caesium, 31 more
Today it means
verb To cut in or into with a sharp instrument; to carve; to engrave.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *kh₂eyd- / incise