Etymology

mutilate

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Today it means: To physically harm as to impair use, notably by cutting off or otherwise disabling a vital part, such as a limb. Full definition →

Latin mutilātus
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The story

  1. Latin · learned borrowing frommutilātus
  2. English todaymutilate

Learned borrowing from Latin mutilātus, the perfect passive participle of mutilō (“to mutilate”) (see -ate (verb-forming suffix) and -ate (adjective-forming suffix)), itself from mutilus (“maimed”).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.