'excerpt' originates from Latin, specifically the verb 'excerpere' and its past participle 'excerptum', where 'ex-' meant 'out' and 'carpere' (related to 'carpere') meant 'to pick or pluck'.

'excerpt' changed from Medieval Latin 'excerptum' (past participle of 'excerpere') into Late Latin/Old French forms and was borrowed into English as 'excerpt' with the sense of a 'picked-out passage'.

Initially, it meant 'to pluck out or take out (literally to pick out)', but over time it evolved into the current sense of 'a short extract taken from a larger work' or 'to take such an extract'.