efface

See also: effacé

English

Etymology

From Middle French effacer (“erase”), from Old French esfacier (“remove the face”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /əˈfeɪs/, /ɪˈfeɪs/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -eɪs

Verb

efface (third-person singular simple present effaces, present participle effacing, simple past and past participle effaced)

1. (transitive) To erase (as anything impressed or inscribed upon a surface); to render illegible or indiscernible.

   Do not efface what I've written on the chalkboard.

   • 1825, Walter Scott, The Talisman, A.L. Burt Company (1832?), 15:

     An outline of the same device might be traced on his shield, though many a blow had almost effaced the painting.

2. (transitive) To cause to disappear as if by rubbing out or striking out.

   Some people like to efface their own memories with alcohol.

   • 1834, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter XXXI, in Francesca Carrara. […], volume III, London: Richard Bentley, […], (successor to Henry Colburn), →OCLC, page 254:

     The bright records of the last hour effaced all the darker traces left by long and weary days.

3. (intransitive) To make oneself inobtrusive as if due to modesty or diffidence.

   Many people seem shy, but they really just efface for meekness.

4. (medicine, intransitive) Of the cervix during pregnancy, to thin and stretch in preparation for labor.

   Some females efface 75% by the 39th week of pregnancy.

Derived terms

• effaceable
• effacement
• effacer
• ineffaceable
• self-effacing
• uneffaced

Translations

to erase

Arabic: دَسَمَ (dasama), خَمَلَ (ḵamala, literally “to be or become effaced”), طَلَسَ (ṭalasa), طَمَسَ (ṭamasa, literally “to be effaced”) Bulgarian: премахвам (bg) (premahvam), заличавам (bg) (zaličavam) Chinese: Hokkien: 拍擦銷／拍擦销 (phah-chhat-siau) (Xiamen) Mandarin: 磨 (zh) (mó) Czech: smazat (cs) pf, vymazat pf, zahladit pf French: effacer (fr) Georgian: წაშლა (c̣ašla) German: unkenntlich machen, unlesbar machen, verwischen (de) Greek: αποσβήνω (el) (aposvíno) Ido: efacar (io) Japanese: 抹殺する (まっさつする, massatsu suru), 消去する (ja) (shōkyo suru) Latin: dēlinō, oblitterō Marathi: पुसणे (pusṇe) Romanian: șterge (ro) Russian: стирать (ru) (stiratʹ), замазывать (ru) impf (zamazyvatʹ) Serbo-Croatian: Cyrillic: збри̏сати pf Roman: zbrȉsati (sh) pf Spanish: borrar (es) Swahili: -futa (sw) Tagalog: bura Tamil: அழி (ta) (aḻi) Thai: ล้าง (th) (láang)

cause to disappear as if by rubbing out

Bulgarian: изтривам (bg) (iztrivam), зачерквам (bg) (začerkvam) Czech: vymazat pf French: effacer (fr) German: ausradieren (de), auslöschen (de), zum Verschwinden bringen Japanese: 拭い去る (nuguisaru) Russian: стирать (ru) (stiratʹ) Spanish: borrar (es)

make oneself inobtrusive

Dutch: zich wegcijferen French: s’effacer (fr) Russian: вычёркивать (ru) impf (vyčórkivatʹ) (oneself or someone)

See also

• deface

Anagrams

• Caffee

French

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /e.fas/

• Audio:

  (file)

Noun

efface f (plural effaces)

1. (North America) eraser

   Synonym: gomme

Verb

efface

1. inflection of effacer:
   1. first/third-person singular present indicative/subjunctive
   2. second-person singular imperative

Further reading

• “efface”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.