excavate

English

Etymology 1

First attested in 1599, from Latin excavātus (“hollowed out”), perfect passive participle of excavō (“to hollow out”) (see -ate (verb-forming suffix) and -ate (adjective-forming suffix)), from ex (“out”) + cavō (“to hollow out, pierce”), from cavus (“cave, hole”) + -ō (verb-forming suffix). Participial usage up until Early Modern English.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈɛk.skə.veɪt/

  • Audio (Southern England):

    (file)

• Hyphenation: ex‧ca‧va‧te

Verb

excavate (third-person singular simple present excavates, present participle excavating, simple past and past participle excavated)

1. (transitive) To make a hole in (something); to hollow.
2. (transitive) To remove part of (something) by scooping or digging it out.
3. (transitive) To uncover (something) by digging.

Derived terms

• excavatable
• nonexcavated
• re-excavate
• unexcavated

Related terms

• excavation
• excavator

Translations

to make a hole in (something); to hollow

• Bulgarian: дълбая (bg) (dǎlbaja)
• Catalan: excavar (ca)
• Dutch: uithollen (nl)
• French: excaver (fr)
• Galician: escavar
• Hungarian: kiás (hu), kiváj (hu)
• Māori: whakakōrua, karituangi, haukeri
• Portuguese: escavar (pt)
• Quechua: haratay
• Serbo-Croatian: iskapati (sh), iskopavati (sh)
• Spanish: excavar (es)
• Tagalog: hukay (butas), balon

to remove part of (something) by scooping or digging it out

• Bulgarian: копая (bg) (kopaja)
• Catalan: excavar (ca)
• Dutch: uithollen (nl)
• Galician: escavar
• Hmong:

  White Hmong: khawb

• Hungarian: elhord (hu), kiemel (hu), kikotor (hu), kimélyít (hu), alámos (hu)
• Māori: haukeri
• Portuguese: escavar (pt)
• Spanish: excavar (es), asotanar (es)
• Tagalog: hukay
• Turkish:

  Ottoman Turkish: قازمق (kazmak)

• Vietnamese: khai quật (vi)

to uncover (something) by digging

• Armenian: պեղել (hy) (peġel)
• Bulgarian: разкопавам (bg) (razkopavam)
• Catalan: excavar (ca), desenterrar (ca) (from ground)
• Dutch: opdelven (nl), uitgraven (nl)
• Galician: escavar
• Gothic: 𐌿𐍆𐌲𐍂𐌰𐌱𐌰𐌽 (ufgraban)
• Hungarian: felás (hu), feltár (hu)
• Latin: effodiō
• Malay: huke
• Māori: huke, kohura
• Tagalog: buksan (tl) (tanggal takip)
• Vietnamese: khai quật (vi)
• Zulu: -mba

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Romanian: ^{(please verify)} excava (ro)

Adjective

excavate (not comparable)

1. (rare, as an adjective) Made hollow.
2. (obsolete, as a participle) excavated, hollowed out

Etymology 2

From a substantivization of Latin excavātus through the associated taxon's name (Excavata), see -ate (noun-forming suffix) and Etymology 1 for more.

Noun

excavate (plural excavates)

1. (zoology) Any member of a major grouping of unicellular eukaryotes, of the clade Excavata.

References

• Douglas Harper (2001–2026), “excavate”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.

Latin

Verb

excavāte

1. second-person plural present active imperative of excavō

Spanish

Verb

excavate

1. second-person singular voseo imperative of excavar combined with te