excavate
ex·ca·va·te/ˈɛk.skə.veɪt/verb, adjective, noun
excavate is spelled E-X-C-A-V-A-T-E: 8 letters and 4 syllables (ex·ca·va·te). It appears about once in every 2 million words in written English, the 43,663rd most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a verb, excavate means “To make a hole in (something); to hollow” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).
How many letters and syllables are in excavate?
| Letters | 8: E-X-C-A-V-A-T-E |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 4: ex·ca·va·te |
| In writing | about once in every 2 million words; the 43,663rd most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How common is excavate?
Excavate appears about once in every 2 million words in written English, the 43,663rd most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce excavate?
- /ˈɛk.skə.veɪt/
Excavate has 4 syllables, split ex·ca·va·te in writing.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-excavate.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of excavate
- excavates present, singular, he/she/it, plural
- excavating participle, present
- excavated participle, past
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does excavate mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
verb
- 1
To make a hole in (something); to hollow.
- 2
To remove part of (something) by scooping or digging it out.
- 3
To uncover (something) by digging.
noun
- 1
Any member of a major grouping of unicellular eukaryotes, of the clade Excavata.
adjective
- 1
rareMade hollow.
- 2
obsoleteexcavated, hollowed out
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Excavate in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does excavate come from?
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.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).