terse

Meanings

1. 1
   adj

   sparing in words; abrupt and concise

   His terse reply made clear he wanted no discussion.

Simplified etymology

Terse comes from Latin tersus “wiped or polished.” In the early 17th century it meant “polished, trim, or spruce,” and polished or polite when applied to language; by the late 18th century it had acquired its modern sense of language trimmed of everything unnecessary and therefore concise.

From Latin tersus ('wiped off, clean, neat, polished'), past participle of tergere ('to wipe, polish'); the sense narrowed from 'polished in style' to 'concise'.

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