effacement

English

Etymology

Etymology tree

Old French esfacier

French effacer

Proto-Indo-European *-mn̥

Proto-Indo-European *-mn̥tom

Proto-Italic *-mentom

Latin -mentum

Old French -ment

Middle French -ment

French -ment

French effacementbor.

English effacement

Borrowed from French effacement.

Noun

effacement (countable and uncountable, plural effacements)

1. The act of expunging, of wiping out; expungement.
   • 1927, Ernest Bramah [pseudonym; Ernest Brammah Smith], Max Carrados Mysteries:

     Among the many very baffling inconsistencies of Shakespeare's life the outstanding mystery is surely this: that of all his prolific work […] not a line of manuscript is known to exist today. Nothing approaching this complete effacement can be paralleled in literary history […]

2. Withdrawal in order to make oneself inconspicuous; the making of oneself inconspicuous.
   • 2007, John Zerzan, Silence, page 3:

     Native Americans seem to have always placed great value on silence and direct experience, and in indigenous cultures in general, silence denotes respect and self-effacement.

3. (medicine) A shortening, or thinning, of the cervix before or during early labour.

Derived terms

• self-effacement

Translations

withdraw in order to make oneself inconspicuous

• French: effacement (fr) m

French

Etymology

From effacer (“to erase”) +‎ -ment.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /e.fas.mɑ̃/

• Audio (France (Somain)):

  (file)

Noun

effacement m (plural effacements)

1. erasure (act of erasing)

Descendants

• → English: effacement

Further reading

• “effacement”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012