Exchange

How to spell exchange

8 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce exchange

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does exchange mean?

1. verbTo give one thing and receive another in return.
2. nounThe act of giving and receiving in return, or a place where trading is done.

Exchange in a sentence

• verb

  The shop will exchange the jumper for a larger size.

• noun

  They agreed to a fair exchange of property after the divorce.

• verb

  The two managers met to exchange contact details.

• noun

  Shares are bought and sold on the stock exchange.

Where does exchange come from?

Language of origin: French

This word came into English in the late 1300s from the Old French eschangier, which meant 'to barter, trade, or swap one thing for another'. The root verb behind it is the Late Latin cambiare, 'to exchange or barter', which the Romans themselves seem to have borrowed from a Celtic source meaning 'to bend or turn', the idea being that goods turn from one owner to another. The prefix is the es- of Old French, descended from Latin ex 'out', so the literal sense is something like 'to swap out'. English first used it as a verb, with the noun following soon after to name both the act of swapping and, later, the place where money or goods are traded. The same cambiare root sits inside the financial word 'change' and the Italian 'cambio', and remembering that 'exchange' is simply 'ex' joined to 'change' is the easiest guard against dropping the silent middle.

How the word is built

• ex- (variant of es-, from Latin ex 'out')
• change (from Late Latin cambiare 'to barter, swap')