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Exclude | Vocabulary

Let's explore the meaning and the origin of the word "exclude". Created by David Rheinstrom.

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Video transcript

- [David] Hey, wordsmiths, I would never dare leave you feeling left out, so I wanna warn you that the word we're discussing in this video is exclude, ex-clude. It's a verb, it means to keep someone or something out, to prevent access. It can have a bad connotation or feeling like keeping people from voting, excluding them from having a vote. And it can also have a neutral connotation or feeling, like excluding coffee from your diet or something. You'll also see it as exclusion, which is the noun form. But for now, let's talk about its derivation. Where does this word come from? We got ex, we got clude. What's going on here? So we have two pieces of Latin here. Ex means out as in extend or expel. Those two words mean to stretch out or to drive out. And then clude comes from the Latin claudere, which means to close. You sometimes see this root pop up as clus too. So when you are excluded from something, you've been closed out, a door has been shut, and you're on the wrong side of it. But for now, let's open the door to some similar words. I'll put on some music, all right? And you'll take that time to come up with a few words that also use clude or clus or ex. Ready? Let's go. (hip hop music) Here are some I thought up. Exclusive, which means special or limited, related to exclude, right? An exclusive club is very picky about who gets in. Some people are going to be excluded from or kept out of the club. Or an exclusive offer is limited time only, act now. To conclude, to end something, literally to close together, like drawing the curtains at a theater. Or secluded meaning out of the way or private from Latin parts sed, meaning apart and claudere, right? So literally to be closed off, apart from everything. Let's use exclude in some sentences. Wanda didn't mean to exclude Bonnie. She really did honestly forget to invite her to the clam bake. Look at Bonnie being so sad, dreaming of clams and potatoes and corn. Nobody's ever invited me to a clam bake, which is a New England beach party. They do what it sounds like, they bake clams. Okay, let's try it now in the noun form and continuing the theme, strangely enough, of corn. Nirmal loved corn on the cob to the exclusion of all other food. So that means he doesn't eat anything but corn. He excludes other foods, which is not great, my dudes. It's important to eat a balanced diet, wordsmiths, a good mix of leafy greens and proteins and the USDA recommended two to three new words a day. See, it's right here on the MyPlate graphic. I didn't just put that there. I kid, I kid obviously, but words are good for you. Okay, I'll see you in the next one. You can learn anything, David out.