Etymograph

English

exit

Exit comes from Middle English exit, from Latin exitus ‘departure, going out’, from exeō ‘to go out’ (ex- + eō ‘to go’).

  1. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEeō1‘to go’
  2. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEexeō1‘to depart, exit’
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEexitus1‘departure, going out’
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500exit1
  5. Englishearliest quotation c. 1598–1600exit1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English exit
  2. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: c. 1598–1600, William Shakespeare, As You Like It: “All the world's a ſtage, / And all the…”.

Lineage

  1. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEeōWiktionary, English exit‘to go’
  2. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEexeōWiktionary, English exit‘to depart, exit’
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEexitusWiktionary, English exit‘departure, going out’
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500exitWiktionary, English exit
  5. Englishearliest quotation c. 1598–1600exitWiktionary, English exit. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: c. 1598–1600, William Shakespeare, As You Like It: “All the world's a ſtage, / And all the…”

The story

Exeō is derived from ex- (prefix meaning ‘out, away’) + eō (‘to go’) (ultimately from ). The English word is cognate with Italian esito, Portuguese êxito, Spanish éxito.

Full etymology on Wiktionary

Linked words

through Latin eō

initial, transition, ambitious, ambition, ambient, trance, transient, obituary, 33 more

through Latin exeō ‘to depart, exit’

issue, 7 more

Another origin of exit

  1. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEeō‘go’
  2. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEexeō‘to depart, exit’
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEexit
  4. Englishtodayexit

Today it means

noun An act of going out or going away, or leaving; a departure.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “exit”. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.

Etymograph / Latin eō / exit

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