| apocopate |
| Definition: To cut off; especially, to cut of the last letter or syllable of a word. |
| Example: What oft was thought …. |
| Etymology: The term derives from the Greek apokoptein, cutting off (from apo, away from + koptein, to cut.) |
| OED: Its first citation is from 1851: "You apocopate that from the alphabet and Deacon Hadlock will apocopate you from the school." (S. Judd Margaret ii. i. (1871), 168) |