ex-

• e-

From Middle English, from words borrowed from Middle French; from Latin ex (“out of, from”), from Proto-Indo-European *eǵ-, *eǵs- (“out”), *eǵʰs. Cognate with Ancient Greek ἐξ (ex, “out of, from”), Transalpine Gaulish ex- (“out”), Old Irish ess- (“out”), Old Church Slavonic изъ (izŭ, “out”), Russian из (iz, “from, out of”).

For sense 3, compare sense 11 at Latin ex (indicates a change of state, (later) used before terms denoting an office to indicate that one has completed his term of office).

• IPA^(key): (hyphened always) /ɛks/
• IPA^(key): (unhyphened with primary or secondary stress) /ɛks/, (before a vowel) /ɛɡz/
• IPA^(key): (unhyphened unstressed) /ɪks/, (before a vowel) /ɪɡz/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

ex-

2. out of

   borrowed from Latin: extract, expel, except, expression, exclusion

4. outside

   ex-directory; borrowed from Latin: exterior

6. former (this meaning is probably a semantic extension from the sense of "out, away")

   ex-husband, ex-president, ex-wife

   • 1969 December 7, “Full Frontal Nudity”, in Monty Python's Flying Circus‎^[1], season 1, episode 8, spoken by Mr Praline (John Cleese), Dead Parrot sketch:

     This parrot is no more. It has ceased to be. It's expired and gone to see its maker. This is a late parrot. It's a stiff. Bereft of life, it rests in peace. If you hadn't nailed it to the perch it would be pushing up the daisies. It's run down the curtain and joined the choir invisible. This is an ex-parrot.

   • 2018 April 16, Stephen Collinson, “Trump now faces Comey’s moral assault”, in CNN‎^[2]:

     While he may not deserve to be branded a “slimeball,” as Trump did on Sunday, Comey does risk coming across as a disgruntled ex-employee and someone seeking vengeance for his dismissal. He has a highly developed sense of his own morality and sometimes comes across as holier than thou.

   • 2023 September 30, CSX8600, “September 2023 Update”, in Mesabrook Blog‎^[3]:

     A major event involves an ex-member of our build team. Due to a lack of legal protection on Mesabrook’s end, this member was able to make a legal request to have their builds and artwork removed from the Mesabrook project.

8. (biology) Without, not possessing; lacking.

   excaudate, exstipulate

• Sometimes the x in ex- is elided before certain constants, being reduced to e- (as, e.g., in ejaculate and egregious which are borrowed from Latin).
• Words derived from ex- in the sense of former are usually formed with a hyphen. Using hyphen is recommended by GPO manual.^[1]

• (outside): out-, exo-, ecto-
• (former): then-
• (lacking): an-, -less, -free

• (antonym(s) of “outside”): in-, intra-, en-/em-/im-, end-/endo-/ento-

Derived words without entries:

• e-
• ex
• extra-

• “ex-”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.
• “ex-”, in Merriam-Webster.com Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.
• “ex-”, in The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th edition, Boston, Mass.: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2016, →ISBN.
• “ex-”, in Collins English Dictionary, 2011–present.
• ex- in Britannica Dictionary
• John A. Simpson and Edmund S. C. Weiner, editors (1989), “ex-”, in The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd edition, Oxford: Clarendon Press, →ISBN.
• John A. Simpson and Edmund S. C. Weiner, editors (1989), “ex-”, in The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd edition, Oxford: Clarendon Press, →ISBN.

• XE, xe

Derived from Latin ex-.

ex-

1. ex-. Doublet of es-.

• “ex-”, in Diccionari de la llengua catalana [Dictionary of the Catalan Language] (in Catalan), second edition, Institute of Catalan Studies [Catalan: Institut d'Estudis Catalans], April 2007
• “ex-”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2026
• “ex-” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
• Alcover, Antoni Maria; Moll, Francesc de Borja (1963), “ex-”, in Diccionari català-valencià-balear (in Catalan)

• IPA^(key): [ɛks ]

ex-

1. ex- (former)

• ex- in Slovník afixů užívaných v češtině, 2017

Borrowed from French ex-, from Latin ex-.

• IPA^(key): /ɛks/

• Audio:

  (file)

ex-

1. ex- (former, but still living)

• ex

< English ex-

• IPA^(key): /ˈeks/, [ˈe̞ks̠]

ex-

1. (informal) ex- (former)

   ex-aviomies ― ex-husband

   ex-pomo ― ex-boss

• aiempi
• entinen

ex-

1. ex- (former)

   ‎ex- + ‎femme → ‎ex-femme

• “ex-”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012

• Audio (Germany (Berlin)):

  (file)

ex-

1. ex- (former)
2. ex- (out)

• “ex-” in Duden online

• IPA^(key): [ˈɛks]

ex-

1. ex- (former)

• ex- in Nóra Ittzés, editor, A magyar nyelv nagyszótára [A Comprehensive Dictionary of the Hungarian Language] (Nszt.), Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, 2006–2031 (work in progress; published a–ez as of 2026).

Borrowed from Latin ex-. Doublet of s- and es-.

ex-

1. ex-

• ex (“somebody one has been formerly betrothed or married to”)

• ē- (before b, d, g, j, l, m, n, r, or v)
• ec-, ef- (before f)

The preposition ex, ē used in combination.

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): [ɛks]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [eks]

ex-

1. out, away

   ‎ē- + ‎veniō → ‎ēveniō

   ‎ex- + ‎clāmō (“call, shout”) → ‎exclāmō (“call out, exclaim”)

   ‎ex- + ‎eō (“go”) → ‎exeō (“exit, depart”)

2. throughout

   ‎ē- + ‎dormiō → ‎ēdormiō

   ‎ē- + ‎pōtō (“drink”) → ‎ēpōtō (“drink up”)

4. (intensive) thoroughly

   ‎ē- + ‎dūrus → ‎ēdūrō

   ‎ex- + ‎acuō → ‎exacuō

5. denoting achievement

   ‎ex- + ‎ōrō → ‎exōrō

   ‎ex- + ‎pugnō (“battle, fight, combat”) → ‎expugnō (“capture, conquer”)

6. up

   ‎ex- + ‎aggerō → ‎exaggerō

   ‎ex- + ‎struō (“pile, arrange”) → ‎exstruō (“heap up, build up, construct”)

7. denoting privation

   ‎ex- + ‎anima (“air, breath, soul, life”) → ‎exanimō (“deprive of air, deprive of life”)

   ‎ex- + ‎sanguis (“blood”) → ‎exsanguis (“deprived of blood, bloodless”)

• “ex-” on pages 629–630 of the Oxford Latin Dictionary (1st ed., 1968–82)

• ef- (before f)

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

ex-

1. privation

   ‎ef- + ‎flouren → ‎efflouren

Borrowed from Latin ex.

• Homophones: ex, -ês, Es (without /j/), eis (with /j/)

ex-

1. ex- (former)

Always used with a hyphen.

• ex

• “ex-”, in Dicionário Aulete Digital (in Portuguese), Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon Editora Digital, 2008–2026
• “ex-”, in Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Lisbon: Priberam, 2008–2026

ex-

1. ex- (former)

From Latin ex.

ex-

1. ex- (former)

• “ex-”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8.1, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 15 December 2025

ex-

1. ex-, former, past

• ex

• “ex-”, in Svensk ordbok [Dictionary of Swedish] (in Swedish)
• “ex-”, in Svenska Akademiens ordlista [Wordlist of the Swedish Academy] (in Swedish)
• “ex-”, in Svenska Akademiens ordbok [Dictionary of the Swedish Academy] (in Swedish)