From Latin 'eligere' (to pick out) — the same root gave us 'select,' 'collect,' 'lecture,' 'legend,' and 'intelligent.'
To choose someone by voting; to choose to do something. As an adjective: chosen or singled out (especially for a position not yet assumed, as in 'president-elect').
From Latin ēlēctus, past participle of ēligere (to pick out, to choose, to select), composed of ē-/ex- (out of) + legere (to gather, to choose, to read), from PIE *leǵ- (to gather, to collect). The PIE root is remarkably productive: Latin legere yielded not only elect but also collect (con- + legere), select (sē- + legere), and lecture/legend (things 'gathered' by reading). The same root gave Latin lēx (law — what is 'gathered' as binding
The Latin verb 'legere' meant both 'to choose' and 'to read' — and this dual meaning was not accidental. To the Romans, reading was an act of choosing: the eye picks out (gathers) individual letters and assembles them into meaning. From 'legere' in its 'choose' sense came 'elect,' 'select,' 'collect,' and 'neglect