Etymograph

English

excorticate

Excorticate comes from Latin ex ‘out’, from cortex ‘bark’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *(s)kert- ‘to cut’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*(s)kert-1‘to cut’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*(s)kort-ek-s1reconstructed
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEcortex2as corticis‘bark’
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEex2‘out’
  5. Englishearliest quotation 1664excorticate2

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, Latin cortex
  2. 2 Wiktionary, English excorticate
  3. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1664, John Evelyn, Sylva: “Moſs is to be rubb'd and ſcrap'd off with…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*(s)kert-Wiktionary, Latin cortex‘to cut’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*(s)kort-ek-sWiktionary, Latin cortexreconstructed
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEcortexWiktionary, English excorticateas corticis‘bark’
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEexWiktionary, English excorticate‘out’
  5. Englishearliest quotation 1664excorticateWiktionary, English excorticate. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1664, John Evelyn, Sylva: “Moſs is to be rubb'd and ſcrap'd off with…”

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *(s)kort-ek-s

corky, 3 more

through Latin cortex ‘bark’

cork, cortex, cortical, 4 more

through Latin ex ‘out’

ex, exchange, squash, extort, affray, extenuating, enunciation, excommunicate, 10 more

Today it means

verb To strip of bark, shell or skin.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “excorticate”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entry for Latin cortex. 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 *(s)kert- / excorticate

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