Etymograph

English

inexact

Inexact comes from French inexact ‘inexact (not exact)’, from Latin exāctus ‘driven out, expelled, having been driven out’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₂eǵ-.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*h₂eǵ-1‘to drive’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*h₂éǵeti1‘to be driving’reconstructed
  3. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*agō1‘to drive’reconstructed
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEagō2‘to drive’
  5. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEexigō3‘drive out’
  6. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEexāctus4‘driven out, expelled, having been driven out’
  7. Frenchc. 1600–presentexact5
  8. Frenchc. 1600–presentinexact6‘inexact (not exact)’
  9. Englishearliest quotation 2019inexact6

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, Latin ago
  2. 2 Wiktionary, Latin exigo
  3. 3 Wiktionary, Latin exactus
  4. 4 Wiktionary, French exact
  5. 5 Wiktionary, French inexact
  6. 6 Wiktionary, English inexact
  7. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 2019, Li Huang, Another Arrow for the Quiver: A New Methodology for Multilin: “At the same time, we were cognisant that careful…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*h₂eǵ-Wiktionary, Latin ago‘to drive’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*h₂éǵetiWiktionary, Latin ago‘to be driving’reconstructed
  3. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*agōWiktionary, Latin ago‘to drive’reconstructed
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEagōWiktionary, Latin exigo‘to drive’
  5. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEexigōWiktionary, Latin exactus‘drive out’
  6. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEexāctusWiktionary, French exact‘driven out, expelled, having been driven out’
  7. Frenchc. 1600–presentexactWiktionary, French inexact
  8. Frenchc. 1600–presentinexactWiktionary, English inexact‘inexact (not exact)’
  9. Englishearliest quotation 2019inexactWiktionary, English inexact. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 2019, Li Huang, Another Arrow for the Quiver: A New Methodology for Multilin: “At the same time, we were cognisant that careful…”

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *h₂eǵ- ‘to drive’

suggest, register, essay, gesture, digest, acre, congestion, agrarian, belligerent, gestation, progesterone, ingestion, agitate, ingest, axiomatic, agger, samaj, gerund, gestion, 127 more

through Proto-Indo-European *h₂éǵeti ‘to be driving’

strategy, agony, antagonist, axiom, reactionary, antagonism, agonist, antagonize, stratagem, glucagon, agonize, 101 more

through Proto-Italic *agō ‘to drive’

reaction, transaction, actively, radioactive, inactive, unambiguous, reagent, retroactive, hyperactivity, ambiguously, 79 more

through Latin agō ‘to drive’

agency, action, agent, act, active, activity, actual, agenda, actor, examination, ambiguous, squat, agile, activate, examine, ambiguity, agility, agitation, enact, radium, cogent, actuator, actuation, actuate, redact, 96 more

through Latin exigō ‘drive out’

assay, exigent, 9 more

Today it means

adj Imperfectly conforming; exceeding or falling short in some respect.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “inexact”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entries for Latin ago, Latin exigo, Latin exactus, French exact, French inexact. 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 / Proto-Indo-European *h₂eǵ- / inexact

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