Explicé

Explicé is a form that appears in discussions of Romance languages, most notably in Spanish, where it is commonly treated as a conjugated verb form rather than a standalone lemma. It is linked to the verb explicar, meaning to explain. In standard Spanish orthography, the first‑person singular preterite form is written explicqué, which reflects the historical shift of the -car ending to -qué in this tense. Because of this, explicé (without the final que) is generally considered a misspelling in careful writing.

In other languages, forms that look similar can have different meanings and spellings. For example, in French the past participle of expliquer is expliqué, with a different root spelling (expliqué) and pronunciation. These cross‑language similarities can cause confusion for learners, especially for those studying multiple Romance languages or reading multilingual texts.

Etymologically, explic ar derives from Latin explicare, meaning to unfold or spread out. The Spanish preterite formation that yields explicqué involves the -car stem ending and a -qué ending used to preserve the hard c sound before the ending, along with an accent to indicate the correct stress pattern in the word’s final syllable.

Usage notes: explicqué is a tense form found in literary and formal writing, where the narrative voice explains events after describing them. Writers and editors may caution against the misleading simplification explicé, which does not align with the standard preterite spelling for this verb class. Learners should consult authoritative dictionaries for the precise conjugation and regional preferences.