Thanks to the mandatory study of Latin in my school, I have acquired a fascination for exploring the roots of words, which eventually led to the formation of this series.
While reading the things that people write or listening to the things that they say throughout the day, I frequently find misused words, usually due to a lack of understanding about the definition or origin of the word.
With the publishing of this post, I’m introducing a new, ongoing series that will address commonly misused or misunderstood words, not to criticize anyone, for I know I have misused my fair share of words, but to better inform people of the definition and correct usage.
Electrocute
Almost every time that I see this word used, it is used incorrectly. Most often, people use it to describe an electric shock.
An innocuous electric impulse passing through the body from an external source such as a battery or circuit can correctly be described as an electric shock: “Touching an object with a static electric charge will result in an electric shock,” “the capacitor shocked me.”
The true definition of the verb, electrocute, is to kill by electric shock, [electro- + (exe)cute], it may help to think of it as “electric execution”; “electricians strive to avoid electrocution.”
If you have been electrocuted, you have been killed; typically, people are unable to talk about their electrocution experience.
Hopefully that clarifies this word for you, and I trust it provides a better understanding of the root of the word, as it did for me.
Is there a misused or misconstrued word that you would like to see in this series?
Onward American 