Etymograph

English

explicans

Explicans comes from Latin explicāns ‘unfolding, unfurling, uncoiling, loosening’, from plicō ‘to fold’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *pleḱ-.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*pleḱ-1‘to fold, plait, weave’reconstructed
  2. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEplicō1‘to fold’
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEexplicō2‘unfold’
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEexplicāns3‘unfolding, unfurling, uncoiling, loosening’
  5. Englishearliest quotation 1963explicans3

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, Latin explico
  2. 2 Wiktionary, Latin explicans
  3. 3 Wiktionary, English explicans
  4. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1963, Robert Brown, London: Routledge & Kegan Paul: “Thus when a function statement gives the explicandum, e.g.…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*pleḱ-Wiktionary, Latin explico‘to fold, plait, weave’reconstructed
  2. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEplicōWiktionary, Latin explico‘to fold’
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEexplicōWiktionary, Latin explicans‘unfold’
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEexplicānsWiktionary, English explicans‘unfolding, unfurling, uncoiling, loosening’
  5. Englishearliest quotation 1963explicansWiktionary, English explicans. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1963, Robert Brown, London: Routledge & Kegan Paul: “Thus when a function statement gives the explicandum, e.g.…”

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *pleḱ- ‘to fold, plait, weave’

complex, fiasco, flax, flack, replication, plexus, flagon, 34 more

through Latin plicō ‘to fold’

apply, display, employment, reply, employ, imply, deploy, ploy, replica, implicit, ply, complication, accomplice, complicate, supple, complicity, pliable, implicate, supplication, splay, triplicate, pliant, 22 more

through Latin explicō ‘unfold’

exploitation, exploit, inexplicable, 8 more

Today it means

noun The underlying meaning of an explicandum.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “explicans”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entries for Latin explico, Latin explicans. 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 *pleḱ- / explicans

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