Expo

How to spell expo

4 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce expo

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does expo mean?

1. nounA large public exhibition or trade fair where businesses display products and services.

Expo in a sentence

• The technology expo filled three exhibition halls downtown.

• Our company booked a stand at the home and garden expo this spring.

Where does expo come from?

Language of origin: Latin

Expo is a twentieth-century clipping of the word exposition, the formal term for a large public display or trade fair. Exposition itself came into English through Old French from the Latin expositio, a noun built on the verb exponere, which literally meant 'to set out' or 'to place outside', from ex- ('out') and ponere ('to put or place'). The full word long described both a written explanation that sets ideas out and a grand show that sets goods or art out for public view. The shortened form took off in the mid-1900s, boosted hugely by Expo 67, the celebrated world's fair held in Montreal, after which 'expo' became the standard casual label for trade fairs and showcases. Because it is a clipped form, the spelling is refreshingly phonetic, with no hidden trap from its Latin parent.

How the word is built

• clipping of exposition: ex- (out)
• posit (place)
• -ion (noun), shortened to a snappy two-syllable form