Pronounced: praw-pug-NAK-yuh-luhm, noun
Notes: I don’t think I’ve ever run across this word
Yesterday’s word
The word eradicate means
- to do away with as completely as if pulling up by the roots
- to pull up by the roots
First usage
Our word came into English in the mid-1500s
Background / Comments
I always thought this word primarily meant to completely erase something, and it can have that meaning, but it started out to mean to pull something up by the roots. Our word came from the Latin word eradicatus, which is the past participle of the Latin verb eradicare, which traces back to the Latin word radix (root; radish). As noted, the original meaning was to uproot, but not long afterwards, the metaphorical idea of removing things came about.
Richard's Vocabulary Word-of-the-Day 