Exits

How to spell exits

5 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce exits

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does exits mean?

1. nounThe doors, passages, or openings through which people leave a building, road, or space.
2. verbThird person singular of the verb meaning to go out of or leave a place.

Exits in a sentence

• noun

  The cinema has four marked exits for emergencies.

• verb

  The driver always exits the car park through the side gate.

• noun

  Both motorway exits were closed for resurfacing.

• verb

  The software exits automatically after ten minutes of inactivity.

Where does exits come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word descends from the Latin exitus, meaning 'a going out' or 'departure', which was built from the verb exire, 'to go out'. That verb joined the prefix ex-, meaning 'out', to the verb ire, meaning 'to go', so the literal sense is simply 'to go out'. English took it up in the late 1500s, partly as a stage direction borrowed straight from Latin: 'exit' once told a single actor to leave the scene, while the plural 'exeunt' sent several off together. From the theatre the word spread into ordinary use for any way out and for the act of leaving, and the same ire root still powers relatives such as 'transit', 'circuit', and 'ambition'. The single x doing the work of two sounds (a 'k' plus an 's', or a 'g' plus a 'z') is the only mild trap in an otherwise transparent spelling.

How the word is built

• ex- (out)
• it (from Latin ire, to go)
• -s (plural / third-person singular)