Etymograph

English

excuse

Excuse comes from Old French escuser ‘to excuse oneself’, and goes back to Latin excūsō.

  1. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEexcūsō1‘to excuse’
  2. Old Frenchc. 842–1400escuser1‘to excuse oneself’
  3. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500excusen1
  4. Englishearliest quotation c. 1503–1512excuse1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English excuse
  2. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: c. 1503–1512, John Skelton, Ware the Hauke; republished in John Scattergood: “They cannot be excusyd By reason nor by law;…”.

Lineage

  1. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEexcūsōWiktionary, English excuse‘to excuse’
  2. Old Frenchc. 842–1400escuserWiktionary, English excuse‘to excuse oneself’
  3. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500excusenWiktionary, English excuse
  4. Englishearliest quotation c. 1503–1512excuseWiktionary, English excuse. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: c. 1503–1512, John Skelton, Ware the Hauke; republished in John Scattergood: “They cannot be excusyd By reason nor by law;…”

A compound of ex ‘out’ + causa ‘a charge’

Proto-Indo-European *h₁eǵʰs ‘out’

Proto-Italic *eks

Latin ex ‘out’

Proto-Italic *kaussā

Old Latin caussa

Latin causa ‘a charge’

The story

From Middle English excusen (verb) and excuse (noun), borrowed from Old French escuser (verb) and excuse (noun), from Latin excūsō, excūsāre (‘to excuse, allege in excuse, literally, free from a charge’), from ex (‘out’) + causa (‘a charge’); see cause, accuse and recuse.

Full etymology on Wiktionary

Linked words

through Latin excūsō ‘to excuse, allege in excuse, literally, free…’

inexcusable, 3 more

Today it means

verb To forgive; to pardon; to overlook.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “excuse”. 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 / Latin excūsō / excuse

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