Exempt

How to spell exempt

6 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce exempt

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does exempt mean?

1. adjectiveFree from an obligation, payment, or rule that applies to others.
2. verbTo free a person or thing from an obligation or rule that others must follow.

Exempt in a sentence

• adjective

  Charities are often exempt from paying that particular tax.

• verb

  The new policy will exempt small businesses from the levy.

• adjective

  Staff over a certain grade are exempt from the overtime cap.

• verb

  Officials agreed to exempt basic food items from the sales tax.

Where does exempt come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word traces back to the Latin verb eximere, meaning 'to take out' or 'to remove', formed from ex 'out' and emere 'to take or buy'. Its past participle was exemptus, literally 'taken out', and from there the sense developed into the idea of being singled out and set apart from a general obligation. English adopted it through Old French in the late 1300s, first as an adjective for someone freed from a duty owed by everyone else. The root emere also sits quietly inside relatives like 'redeem' (to buy back) and 'premium', so the buried 'empt' in exempt is the same family of 'taking'. That hidden 'p' before the 't' is the spelling trap, since the word sounds like it ends in plain '-mt'.

How the word is built

• ex- (out)
• empt (from Latin emere: to take, buy)