rhizoverbBeta
DictionaryexcerptSelected passage
noun / verb

excerpt

EK-surpt/ˈeksɜːrpt/

A passage selected from a longer work, or selecting such a passage.

The slip repeats a short excerpt selected from the longer book.

An open substantial book on the left and a small reading slip on the right.
Etymology
exLatinout
+cerptLatinto pluck, gather

An excerpt is something “plucked out.” The physical image of picking or gathering became a figurative way to describe selecting a passage from a larger work.

In context

SOAS University of London32:40
i have a few excerpts from the novels um i have an excerpt actually from zarib and the king a very short one
Women, Writing and the Iraqi Ba'thist State: Contending Discourses of Resistance and Collaboration

More examples

  • The textbook includes excerpts from several presidential speeches.
  • The editor excerpts two paragraphs from the report.
  • This passage was excerpted from his autobiography.

Forms

excerpt · excerpts · excerpted · excerpting

Similar words

extract
Also means a selected passage, but has broader nonliterary uses.
quotation
Emphasizes repeating someone's exact words rather than selecting a passage.
passage
Names a section without implying selection from its source.