obliviate

The story

1. Latin · derived fromoblīviō
2. Old French · derived fromoblivion
3. English todayobliviate

From oblivion + -ate (verb-forming suffix), itself either from Old French oblivion (13th century) or directly from Latin oblīviō, ultimately from oblīvīscor (“to forget”), originally “even out, smooth over, erase”; further perhaps from ob- (“against, towards”) + the root of lēvis (“smooth”) + -scor (“forming inchoative verbs”).

Words from the same roots

First known use, by meaning

• from 1661 To forget; to wipe from existence.