Excoriated sounds such a violent word; you could imagine it means scourging or scouring, or coring or disembowelling… and when I come to actually look at the definition, yes it is a violent word – it can mean not only chaffing or scratching or abrading but it can mean flaying! It can in a milder way mean to wear something away, or to severely censor or denounce someone or something… but I can’t get the picture of scourging and disembowelling!
I guessed it might have a Latin origin, and it does; corium is skin so it does literally mean to remove the skin of something; it first appeared in Middle English in about 1400.
So there you are, a violent word with a brief definition and clear origin!
Lois Elsden 