Etymology

exfoliate

ex·fo·li·ate
E1X8F4O1L1I1A1T1E1

Today it means: To remove the leaves from a plant. Full definition →

Late Latin exfoliō
Ask AI about its historyChatGPTClaudePerplexityGoogle AIGrok

The story

  1. Late Latin · borrowed fromexfoliō“to strip of leaves”
  2. English todayexfoliate

From Late Latin exfoliō (“to strip of leaves”), from ex- (“out of”) + folium (“leaf”); compare effoliate and French exfolier.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.