What does excerpt mean?
An excerpt is a relatively short passage, clip, or section lifted from a larger work, whether that work is a book, an article, a speech, a film, or a piece of music. Readers meet the word constantly in publishing: magazines print excerpts from upcoming novels, news sites share excerpts from interviews, and concert programs describe excerpts from longer symphonies. Excerpt also functions as a verb, meaning to take or quote such a passage, as when an editor excerpts a paragraph for a review. The word is neutral in tone but often subtly suggests removal from context, which is why critics sometimes complain that an argument has been excerpted unfairly. Its Latin ancestry links it to the notion of picking or sifting something out. For writers and readers alike, excerpt is the precise term for a representative sample of a bigger whole, more formal than clip and more specific than extract.
A short passage or segment taken from a book, article, speech, film, or piece of music.
"The newspaper ran an excerpt from the president's new autobiography."
Usually followed by the preposition 'from' indicating the source work.
To take, quote, or reproduce a passage from a larger text or work.
"The editor decided to excerpt two chapters for the promotional booklet."
Formal register; most common in publishing and academic writing. Often used in passive constructions, e.g. 'the passage was excerpted'.
Standard plural; used when referring to multiple passages taken from one or several works.
"The album includes brief excerpts from three earlier recordings."
That 'cerpt' hiding inside 'excerpt' is the same Latin root that gives us certain — both trace back to the idea of something picked out or sifted.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of excerpt
Excerpt comes from the Latin verb excerpere, meaning to pick out or pluck out, formed from ex- (out) plus carpere (to pluck or gather). The word entered English in the early 17th century, first appearing as a noun for a passage selected from a text, with verbal use following shortly after. It shares this Latin root carpere with words such as scarce and carpet's distant relatives, though its closest English kin are excerption and related scholarly terms. The underlying image is of gathering or picking choice material from a larger field.
Related word forms
How excerpt is actually used
As a verb, excerpt is somewhat formal and appears mostly in editorial, academic, and publishing contexts. The stress differs by part of speech in careful usage: EX-cerpt as a noun versus ex-CERPT as a verb, though many speakers use noun stress for both. It carries a neutral connotation but often implies the passage has been removed from a context that gave it fuller meaning.
Easily confused with excerpt
An excerpt is specifically a passage quoted from a written, spoken, musical, or filmed work, while extract is broader and can also mean a concentrated substance (such as vanilla extract) drawn from something.
Except means to exclude or leave out (or as a preposition, 'other than'), whereas excerpt refers to a passage selected from a work.