Etymograph

English

excave

Excave comes from Latin excavō ‘to hollow out, excavate’, 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 CEexcavō2as excavare‘to hollow out, excavate’
  7. Englishearliest quotation 1868excave2

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, Latin excavo
  2. 2 Wiktionary, English excave
  3. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1868, Salisbury and South Wiltshire Museum: “the last 100 to 150 feet in depth of…”.

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 excaveas excavare‘to hollow out, excavate’
  7. Englishearliest quotation 1868excaveWiktionary, English excave. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1868, Salisbury and South Wiltshire Museum: “the last 100 to 150 feet in depth of…”

Linked words

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

church, kirk, hound, cyst, cumulus, cajole, 39 more

through Proto-Italic *kawos

jailer, cavernous, 14 more

through Latin cavus

jail, cage, cavity, gaol, concave, cavern, caul, cavil, 16 more

Today it means

verb To excavate.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “excave”; 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- / excave

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