extirpate
/ˈɛkstəpeɪt/
"extirpate" is a 9-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“extirpate” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a verb. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 9
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - To clear an area of roots and stumps.
Corpus desk
Index EN-extirpate · extirpate · English
extirpate · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-LONG 9 letters
- VOW-4 4 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-THIN "E" thin
- PHOTO-UNK Peer pending
Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern
Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | extirpate |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Verb |
| IPA | /ˈɛkstəpeɪt/ |
| Letters | 9 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “extirpate” in English
Rare enough to double-check
extirpate is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as averb, transcribed /ˈɛkstəpeɪt/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 5 senses are on record.
No generated misspelling entries exist for extirpate in our index, typically a sign the spelling maps closely to how the word sounds. No close-neighbour confusable shows up for this headword in our dataset, since nothing in our dataset looks or sounds close enough to cause mix-ups.
Etymologically, the entry records: The verb is first attested in 1538, the adjective in 1541; borrowed from Latin exstirpātus perfect passive participle of exstirpō (“to uproot”), from ex- (“out of”) + stirps (“the lower part of the trunk of a tree, including the roots; the stem, stalk”) + -… The correct English form is extirpate, spelled E-X-T-I-R-P-A-T-E.
Definition
- 1To clear an area of roots and stumps.
- 2To pull up by the roots; uproot.
- 3To destroy completely; to annihilate.
- 4To cause a population to go extinct in a particular region, but not across the entire range of the species or subspecies.
- 5To surgically remove.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how extirpate appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
But you are not Hercules; nor able to extirpate the Evils of others: nor even Theſeus, to extirpate the Evils of Attica. Extirpate your own then.
The simple object was to expel the natives, and to extirpate the Catholic religion.
Etymology
The verb is first attested in 1538, the adjective in 1541; borrowed from Latin exstirpātus perfect passive participle of exstirpō (“to uproot”), from ex- (“out of”) + stirps (“the lower part of the trunk of a tree, including the roots; the stem, stalk”) + -ō (verb-forming suffix) (see -ate (verb-forming suffix) and -ate (adjective-forming suffix)). Doublet of extirp. Common participial usage of the adjective up until Early Modern English.
This word in other languages
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.