Word of the Day

Did You Know?

Bushwhack your way deep enough into the literature of tree identification and you may come across references to trees with “truncate” leaves. Such leaves (as of the tulip tree, for example) have bases that are straight and even, as though they’ve been cut or sheared away from something larger. The adjectival use of truncate isn’t common—it’s mostly found in technical writing (and can also describe feathers, etc., that appear squared or evened off), but the familiar verb doesn’t fall far from the tree: it is applied when something is shortened by literally or figuratively lopping part of it off, as when someone truncates a planned speech to fit time constraints. Both adjective and noun come from the Latin verb truncare, meaning “to shorten,” which in turn traces back to the noun truncus, meaning “trunk.” So next time you’re stumped about the meaning of truncate, try to picture, well, a stump.