sculpt v.

late 14c., "the art or process of sculpture, the act or art of carving or shaping figures and other objects in the round or in relief on more or less hard surfaces," from Latin sculptura "sculpture," from past participle stem of sculpere "to carve, engrave," a back-formation from compounds such as exculpere, from scalpere "to carve, cut" (from PIE root *skel- (1) "to cut"). The meaning "a work of carved art" is from 1610s.