Excreted

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. Released waste substances from the body through natural processes
2. Discharged bodily waste as part of the body's cleansing functions
3. Eliminated metabolic waste materials from an organism's system

Etymology: "Excreted" is the past tense and past participle of "excrete," so the verb's history is the one that matters. "Excrete" was borrowed from Latin "excrētum," the past participle of "excernere," a verb built from "ex-," meaning "out," and "cernere," meaning "separate" or "sift." The underlying picture is of sorting something out and setting it aside, which is exactly what the body does with material it no longer needs. The Latin "cernere" is also the root of "discern," "decree" and "certain," which share the sense of separating, deciding or distinguishing. "Excrete" keeps that sense of separating out, though its meaning has narrowed to the expulsion of waste. Its form is a direct Latin borrowing, so the word reached English from scholarly writing rather than through everyday speech.

Synonyms: eliminated, discharged, expelled, released, secreted