Etymograph

English

excavate

Excavate comes from Latin excavātus ‘hollowed out’, and goes back to Proto-Indo-European *ḱewh₁- ‘to swell’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*ḱewh₁-1‘to swell’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*ḱowh₁ós1uncertain
  3. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*kawos1reconstructed
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEcavus1
  5. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEcavō1‘to make hollow, hollow out, excavate’
  6. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEexcavō2‘to hollow out’
  7. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEexcavātus2‘hollowed out’perfect passive participle of excavō
  8. Englishtodayexcavate2

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, Latin excavo
  2. 2 Wiktionary, English excavate

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*ḱewh₁-Wiktionary, Latin excavo‘to swell’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*ḱowh₁ósWiktionary, Latin excavouncertain
  3. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*kawosWiktionary, Latin excavoreconstructed
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEcavusWiktionary, Latin excavo
  5. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEcavōWiktionary, Latin excavo‘to make hollow, hollow out, excavate’
  6. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEexcavōWiktionary, English excavate‘to hollow out’
  7. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEexcavātusWiktionary, English excavate‘hollowed out’perfect passive participle of excavō
  8. EnglishtodayexcavateWiktionary, English excavate

first attested First attested in 1599 (as stated in Wiktionary’s etymology)

The story

First attested in 1599, from Latin excavātus (‘hollowed out’), perfect passive participle of excavō (‘to hollow out’) (see -ate (verb-forming suffix) and -ate (adjective-forming suffix)), from ex (‘out’) + cavō (‘to hollow out, pierce’), from cavus (‘cave, hole’) + -ō (verb-forming suffix).

Full etymology on Wiktionary

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *ḱewh₁- ‘to swell’

church, kirk, hound, cyst, cumulus, cajole, 38 more

through Proto-Indo-European *ḱowh₁ós

cavernous, 13 more

through Proto-Italic *kawos

cavern, concave, jailer, 14 more

through Latin cavus

jail, cage, cave, cavity, gaol, caul, cavil, 17 more

Another origin of excavate

  1. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEexcavātus‘excavated’
  2. Englishtodayexcavate

Today it means

verb To make a hole in (something); to hollow.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “excavate”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entry for Latin excavo. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.

Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *ḱewh₁- / excavate

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