Excerpt
/ˈɛks.ɜːrpt/noun
A short extract taken from a larger text, film, or recording.
Did you know?Excerpt comes from Latin excerpere, meaning “to pluck out,” from ex- “out” + carpere “to pluck,” the same root behind the idea of harvesting something by hand.
Etymological Timeline
Proto-Indo-European
PIE
*kerp-
“to pluck, gather, harvest”
Latin
Latin
carpere
“to pluck, gather, seize”
Latin
Latin
excerpere
“to pluck out, pick out”
Late Latin
Latin
excerptum
“a passage selected from a text”
Middle English
English
excerpte
“an extract or selected passage”
Modern English
English
excerpt
“a short extract taken from a larger work”