truncate

English

Etymology

From Latin truncātus, perfect passive participle of truncō (“maim, reduce to a trunk”); see trunk as a verb.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /tɹʌŋˈkeɪt/

  • Audio (Southern England):

    (file)

• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈtɹʌŋˌkeɪt/
• (General Australian) IPA^(key): /tɹaŋˈkæɪt/

Verb

truncate (third-person singular simple present truncates, present participle truncating, simple past and past participle truncated)

1. (transitive) To shorten (something) by, or as if by, cutting part of it off.

   The script was truncated to leave time for commercials.

   • 1960 March, J. P. Wilson, E. N. C. Haywood, “The route through the Peak - Derby to Manchester: Part One”, in Trains Illustrated, page 149:

     All these great plans were in vain, however, for in the cold dawn following the "Mania" years of 1845-46 the M.B.M. & M.J.R. project was truncated to an 11½-mile line from Ambergate to Rowsley.

2. (mathematics, transitive) To shorten (a decimal number) by removing trailing (or leading) digits.
3. (geometry) To replace a corner by a plane (or to make a similar change to a crystal).

Synonyms

• (mathematics): round down

Related terms

• trunk
• truncation

Translations

shorten something as if by cutting off part of it

• Arabic: بَتَرَ (ar) (batara), شَذَّبَ (šaḏḏaba), قَطَعَ (ar) (qaṭaʕa), قَلَّمَ (ar) (qallama)
• Bulgarian: орязвам (bg) (orjazvam), отрязвам върха на (otrjazvam vǎrha na)
• Catalan: truncar (ca)
• Czech: zkrátit (cs) pf, seříznout pf
• Dutch: afhakken (nl), afkappen (nl), inkorten (nl)
• Finnish: lyhentää (fi), typistää (fi), katkaista (fi)
• French: tronquer (fr)
• German: kürzen (de), abschneiden (de)
• Greek: κονταίνω (el) (kontaíno)
• Hungarian: lenyes (hu), csonkol (hu)
• Italian: troncare (it)
• Latin: truncō
• Maori: mutumutu, auporo
• Neapolitan: scurtà
• Piedmontese: strompé
• Portuguese: truncar
• Russian: усека́ть (ru) (usekátʹ)
• Spanish: truncar (es)
• Vietnamese: cắt xén (vi)

shorten a decimal number by removing trailing (or leading) digits; to chop

• Bulgarian: закръглявам (zakrǎgljavam)
• Dutch: afronden (nl) naar (nl) beneden (nl)
• Finnish: katkaista (fi), typistää (fi)
• French: tronquer (fr)
• Greek: περικόπτω (el) (perikópto)
• Ido: trunkigar (io)
• Portuguese: arredondar (pt)
• Spanish: truncar (es)

replace a corner by a plane

• Finnish: typistää (fi)
• Ido: trunkigar (io)

See also

• (geometry): dual polyhedron

Adjective

truncate (not comparable)

1. Truncated.
2. (botany, anatomy) Having an abrupt termination.

Translations

truncated

• Bulgarian: отрязан (bg) (otrjazan), скъсен (bg) (skǎsen)
• Finnish: lyhennetty (fi), typistetty, katkaistu (fi)
• French: tronqué (fr)
• Greek: κολοβός (el) (kolovós), περικομμένος (el) (perikomménos)
• Portuguese: truncado (pt)
• Russian: усечённый (ru) (usečónnyj)(geometry)
• Spanish: truncado (es)

botany, anatomy: having an abrupt termination

• Greek: κολοβός (el) (kolovós), ακρωτηριασμένος (el) (akrotiriasménos)
• Russian: укоро́ченный (ru) (ukoróčennyj)

Further reading

• “truncate”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin E[li] Smith, editors (1911), “truncate”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC.

Latin

Participle

truncāte

1. vocative masculine singular of truncātus

Spanish

Verb

truncate

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