Word of the Week – Excruciating

A quick but enlightening word choice this week.

Did you know that the word excruciating is linked directly to crucifixion? If you’re like me, you’d never paused to think about it, but as soon as you see the two words side by side ~ excruciating | crucifixion ~ you see that common cruc root. This is actually from crux, the Latin word for cross.

Of course, as Christians, the cross holds particular meaning. But in Roman days, it was simply the most painful execution they’d found. So painful, in fact, that they created a new word from it. The Latin cruciare, a verb meaning “to cause pain or anguish” comes directly from the root for cross.

It’s been used in this same way in English since the 1500s, taken directly from the Latin.