Meaning

verb remove from memory or existence

verb remove by or as if by rubbing or erasing

verb wipe out digitally or magnetically recorded information

originFrom Latin erasus, past participle of eradere (“to scrape, to abrade”), from ex- (“out of”) + radere (“to scrape”). Compare Middle English arasen, aracen (“to eradicate, erase”). Displaced native Old English dilegian.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 3.0