elliptical

The word 'elliptical' traces its lineage to the Greek verb elleipein, meaning 'to leave out, fall short'. This root gave rise to elleipsis, the term for an oval shape, which was conceived by ancient geometers as a 'deficient' circle that falls short of being perfectly round. In mathematics, this shape was adopted into Latin as ellipsis, and the English adjective 'elliptical' was formed to describe anything pertaining to this oval form. The semantic connection to concise or obscure language is a metaphorical extension from geometry: just as an ellipse omits part of a circle's completeness, elliptical speech omits words, leaving the meaning implied but not fully stated.

Structure: ellipt (ellipse) + ical (adjective suffix) - ellipt: Derived from Greek elleipsis meaning 'a falling short, defect, ellipse', itself from elleipein 'to fall short, leave out'. - ical: An English adjectival suffix from Latin -icalis, meaning 'of, relating to, or having the nature of'.