Exist

How to spell exist

5 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce exist

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does exist mean?

1. verbTo have actual being; to be real or to live.

Exist in a sentence

• The company believes a market for the product does exist.

• Many species exist only in this remote rainforest.

Where does exist come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word comes from the Latin existere, sometimes written exsistere, which literally meant 'to step out' or 'to stand forth'. It was built from the prefix ex-, meaning 'out', and sistere, meaning 'to stand' or 'to take a position', so the original image was of something stepping out into view and thereby coming into being. Over time the Romans used it to mean simply 'to appear' or 'to be real', and that sense carried through. English took it in during the early 1600s, partly by way of French exister, with the meaning of having actual being or reality. The same sistere root sits inside relatives such as 'insist', 'persist', and 'resist', all of which share the idea of standing in some way. The spelling trap is the single 's' after the 'x', because the modern form quietly dropped the older 'exsistere' double sound.

How the word is built

• ex- (out, forth)
• -ist (from Latin sistere: to stand, take a stand)