Ex-

/ɛks/ prefix

prefix ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Prefix
  1. 1
    out of morpheme

    "borrowed from Latin: extract, expel, except, expression, exclusion"

  2. 2
    outside morpheme

    "ex-directory; borrowed from Latin: exterior"

  3. 3
    former (this meaning is probably a semantic extension from the sense of "out, away") morpheme

    "ex-husband, ex-president, ex-wife"

  4. 4
    Without, not possessing; lacking. morpheme

    "excaudate, exstipulate"

Example

More examples

"borrowed from Latin: extract, expel, except, expression, exclusion"

Etymology

From Middle English, from words borrowed from Middle French; from Latin ex (“out of, from”), from Proto-Indo-European *eǵ-, *eǵs- (“out”), *eǵʰs. Cognate with Ancient Greek ἐξ (ex, “out of, from”), Transalpine Gaulish ex- (“out”), Old Irish ess- (“out”), Old Church Slavonic изъ (izŭ, “out”), Russian из (iz, “from, out of”). For sense 3, compare sense 11 at Latin ex (indicates a change of state, (later) used before terms denoting an office to indicate that one has completed his term of office).

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