Kilo Lingo

Line drawing of forviŝi
Coloured illustration of forviŝi
#2062 of 5,000 Core 5000

Translation

to wipe away, to erase; to delete

Word origin

A compound rather than a borrowing: the prefix for- (away, off) on the root viŝ-, to wipe, which Esperanto took from German wischen.

Origin
German, with an Esperanto prefix
Root
for + wischen

Examples

.

The teacher wiped the words off the board.

.

She wiped away the tears with her hand.

.

I deleted the old file from the computer.

decodes cleanly, and decoding it is the point of meeting it here. It is for, the word meaning "away" doing duty as a prefix, on the root viŝ-, "to wipe". Wipe plus away: wipe away, erase, and by an easy extension delete a file. Viŝi on its own is the plain act - , wipe the table - and it arrives later than this page, at rank 2518 in chapter 27. That is worth stating rather than hiding: you met the compound before the base, which happens whenever the compound is the commoner word in print.

The prefix is doing real work. For is a full adverb in its own right ( for - go away), and Esperanto lets you weld it to the front of a verb to add the sense of removal: take away, fordoni give away, forĵeti throw away, wipe away. Once you see the pattern, half a dozen verbs come free.

For the computing sense there is competition. (rank 737) is the neutral "remove, delete" and is what most software interfaces use. is the more physical, more final-sounding one - you can hear the cloth in it - which is exactly why it turns up for wiping a disk or erasing a memory.

Where this fits

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Esperanto · Free printables

forviŝi: worksheet, infographic and listicle

Free printable study downloads for the Esperanto word "forviŝi" (to wipe away, to erase; to delete): a worksheet with the answer key built in, an infographic, and a sentence listicle. Open any one to view, print or save.

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This word is part of lesson 42.