'apocope' originates from Greek, specifically the word 'apokopē', where the prefix 'apo-' meant 'away' and the root 'kopē' meant 'a cutting (off)'.

'apokopē' passed into Medieval Latin (as 'apocope' or related forms) and was adopted into English as 'apocope'.

Initially, it meant 'a cutting off' in a general sense, but over time it evolved into the specific linguistic meaning 'the cutting off of the end of a word' used in modern English.