The act of removing something from where it is held or mixed, such as a tooth from a mouth or oil from the ground. It can also refer to a person’s origin or ancestry.
From Latin *extractio* ‘a drawing out’, from *extrahere* ‘to draw out’, from *ex-* (‘out’) and *trahere* (‘to pull’). The focus is on pulling something out from inside something else.
Whether it’s sugar from plants, DNA from cells, or a spy from danger, extraction always involves a careful pull from a surrounding environment. Describing someone as ‘of French extraction’ imagines their family roots being ‘pulled out’ from that country.
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