truncate

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for October 8, 2016 is: truncate • \TRUNG-kayt\  • verb : to shorten by or as if by cutting off Examples: "Apparently, a federal law … requires printed credit card receipts truncate not only the credit card number, but also the expiration date." — Jack Greiner, The Cincinnati Enquirer, 28 Aug. 2016 "Google's own URL shortener service … instantly truncates the URL you're visiting and copies the new address to the clipboard for use anywhere." — Eric Griffith, PCMag.com, 23 Aug. 2016 Did you know? Truncate descends from the Latin verb truncare, meaning "to shorten," which in turn can be traced back to the Latin word for the trunk of a tree, which is truncus. Incidentally, if you've guessed that truncus is also the ancestor of the English word trunk, you are correct. Truncus also gave us truncheon, which is the name for a police officer's billy club, and the obscure word obtruncate, meaning "to cut the head or top from." See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.