English
truncate
Truncate comes from Latin truncātus ‘maimed, mutilated, having been maimed by…’, from truncō ‘maim, reduce to a trunk’, and ultimately from truncus.
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEtruncus‘trunk, shaft, main part’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEtruncō‘maim, reduce to a trunk’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEtruncātus‘maimed, mutilated, having been maimed by having limbs cut off’perfect passive participle of truncō
- Englishearliest quotation 1960truncate
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Earlier history uncertain.
Lineage
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEtruncus‘trunk, shaft, main part’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEtruncō‘maim, reduce to a trunk’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEtruncātus‘maimed, mutilated, having been maimed by having limbs cut off’perfect passive participle of truncō
- Englishearliest quotation 1960truncate
Earliest quotation: 1960, J. P. Wilson, The route through the Peak - Derby to Manchester: Part One: “All these great plans were in vain, however, for…”
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *twerḱ- ‘to carve, cut off, trim’
sarcastic, sarcasm, sarcoma, retrenchment, 16 more
through Latin truncus ‘trunk, shaft, main part’
through Latin truncō ‘maim, reduce to a trunk’
Today it means
verb To shorten (something) by, or as if by, cutting part of it off.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Latin truncus / truncate