Decorticate
//diːˈkɔːtɪkeɪt// adj, verb
adj, verb ·Uncommon ·Advanced level
Definitions
Verb
- 1 To peel or remove the bark, husk, or outer layer from something. ergative, transitive
"[…] but its striking white trunk, which changes to a bright pink in late spring or summer just before it decorticates, makes it a handsome species."
- 2 remove the cortex of (an organ) wordnet
- 3 To surgically remove the surface layer, membrane, or fibrous cover of an organ etc. transitive
- 4 remove the outer layer of wordnet
Adjective
- 1 Having had the cortex removed not-comparable
"visually decorticate"
Example
More examples"[…] but its striking white trunk, which changes to a bright pink in late spring or summer just before it decorticates, makes it a handsome species."
Etymology
The verb is first attested in 1611, the adjective in 1872; borrowed from Latin dēcorticātus, perfect passive participle of dēcorticō (see -ate (verb-forming suffix) and -ate (adjective-forming suffix)), from dē- (“of, from”) + cortex (“bark”, oblique stem in cortic-) + -ō.
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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.