ex-

The story

1. Proto-Indo-European*h₁éǵʰ
2. Proto-Indo-European*h₁éǵʰs
3. Proto-Italic*eks
4. Latinex
5. Latinex-
6. Middle Frenchex-
7. Middle Englishex-
8. English todayex-

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 (“former”), 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). It is probably a semantic extension from the sense of "out, away".

Words from the same roots