Prefix · former / outward
Signals a former role or outward movement: ex-president, exit, export, exclude, expand.
Written by Bryan López, English teacher · Updated
Ex- has two main uses. The first signals someone or something that held a role before and no longer does: ex-president, ex-wife, ex-employee. In this use it always takes a hyphen when attached to a title or relationship noun. It is the prefix of what was but is no longer.
The second use signals movement outward: export = send out of the country, exit = a way out, exclude = leave out, expand = extend outward. This use comes from Latin "ex" (out of). Many words with this ex- no longer feel like compounds in everyday use.
Two distinct uses with different hyphen conventions:
The hyphen rule matters: ex- meaning "former" takes a hyphen; ex- meaning "outward" does not. "Export" and "ex-president" are both correct but follow different spelling conventions.
ex-/ɛks/
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The hyphen is required when ex- means "former": ex-president, ex-wife, ex-CEO. Without the hyphen the word is not standard.
"Exit" works as a noun ("the emergency exit," "take the next exit") and as a verb ("please exit the building"). Both uses are very common.
A trick to remember it
Ex- has two lives: ex- + hyphen + title = former (ex-president, ex-wife), and ex- without hyphen + Latin root = outward (export, exit, exclude, expand). If talking about someone who was something, use the hyphen. If talking about outward movement, do not.
Exercise 1 · Form the word
Exercise 2 · Pick the right one
"Please use the nearest ___ in case of an emergency and do not use the elevators."
Exercise 3 · Pick the right one
When does ex- take a hyphen?
The prefix ex- signals a former role or outward movement: ex-president, exit, export, exclude, expand. In Spanish it usually maps to ex- / antiguo.
The prefix ex- is pronounced /ɛks/. For example, "ex-president".
"president" becomes "ex-president". It is a typical example of the ex- prefix.
un-, re-, pre-, dis-, over-, in-... every beginning you need to unlock thousands of English words at once.