Exhibit

How to spell exhibit

7 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce exhibit

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does exhibit mean?

1. nounAn object or collection put on public display, or a display itself.
2. verbTo display something publicly or to show a quality or behaviour.

Exhibit in a sentence

• noun

  The museum has a new exhibit.

• verb

  The gallery will exhibit local photography next month.

• noun

  The painting was the star exhibit of the show.

• verb

  Patients with the flu often exhibit a high fever.

Where does exhibit come from?

Language of origin: Latin

Exhibit comes from the Latin verb exhibere, meaning 'to hold out' or 'to present', formed from ex- 'out' and habere 'to hold or have'. The literal idea was of holding something out for others to see, which is exactly the modern sense of putting an object on public display. English adopted it in the fifteenth century, first in legal and formal contexts where one would exhibit, or produce, documents and evidence before a court. The same habere root, meaning 'to hold', sits inside a large family of English words including habit, inhibit, and prohibit. Knowing that hidden -hibit comes from 'hold' explains the otherwise puzzling 'h' and the single 'b' in the spelling, since the trap is hearing the soft 'gz' sound and forgetting the silent-looking h.

How the word is built

• ex- (out)
• -hibit (from habere: to hold)