Excoriate
/ɪkˈskɔː.ri.eɪt/noun
To criticize harshly or remove the skin from a surface.
Did you know?Excoriate comes from Latin excoriare, literally “to strip off the skin,” from ex- (“out”) + corium (“skin, hide”), so the metaphor of verbal flaying is built right into the word.
Etymological Timeline
Proto-Indo-European
PIE
*sker-
“to cut, to scrape”
Latin
Latin
corium
“skin, hide”
Late Latin
Latin
excoriare
“to strip off the skin, flay”
Old French
Old French
escorier
“to flay, skin”
14th Century
English
excoriate
“to flay; later, to censure severely”
Modern English
English
excoriate
“to criticize harshly or abrade the skin”