Etymologically
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exchange

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 15 October 2026 at 17:48. This address is a permanent link to this version.
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Pronunciation

  • IPA: /ɪksˈtʃeɪndʒ/[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English eschaunge,[2][3] borrowed from Anglo-Norman eschaunge, Old French eschange (modern échange),[4][2][5] from eschangier “to exchange”,[2][3] from Vulgar Latin *excambiāre,[2][3] from ex- (“out”) and cambiāre (“to exchange, barter”),[4][2][3] the source of change.[2][5] The spelling with es- was gradually replaced by ex- after Latin between the 15th and 17th centuries;[2][6] exchange is first found in Caxton, in 1484.[2] The verb is from Old French eschangier.[2][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

The act of giving and receiving one thing for another: about 1374 in the OED, of prisoners of war,[7] about 1378 in Piers Plowman in Barnhart,[2] and the late 14th century in Etymonline.[4] The proverb exchange is no robbery is from about 1384.[7]

Semantic evolution

The commercial exchange of goods, barter, is from 1553.[7] The meeting of merchants and lenders at certain places to exchange bills of debt led to the sense “a building for mercantile business” in the 1580s,[4] as in the Royal Exchange and later the stock exchange.[8][9] An exchange of blows or greetings is from 1602.[7] The verb, “to part with something in return for an equivalent”, is from the late 15th century, in Caxton, though Barnhart dates eschaungen to 1415;[4][2] the non-commercial sense “to give and receive reciprocally” is from about 1600.[4] A telephone exchange and the exchange rate of currencies are later senses.[8][9] Exchangeable is from 1575.[2]

Timeline

  • c. 1374 – an exchange of prisoners.[7]
  • c. 1384 – exchange is no robbery.[7]
  • 1415 – verb, to exchange.[2]
  • 1484 – the spelling exchange.[2]
  • 1553 – barter.[7]
  • 1580s – a building for merchants.[4]
  • c. 1600 – verb, to give and receive reciprocally.[4]
  • 1602 – an exchange of blows.[7]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. The act of giving one thing and receiving another in return; a trade or swap.
  2. A short conversation or argument: an angry exchange.
  3. A place where goods, securities or commodities are traded: a stock exchange.
  4. The changing of one currency into another; the exchange rate.
  5. A central office connecting telephone lines.
  6. A visit by people from one country or school to another in return for a similar visit.

Verb

  1. To give in return for something received; to trade.
  2. To give and receive in turn: exchange greetings.
  3. To return a purchase for something else.

Word family

  • exchangeable
  • exchangeability
  • exchanger
  • preexchange
  • reexchange
  • exchangee

References

  1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  3. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  5. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  7. ^ a b c d e f g h Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  8. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
  9. ^ a b Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster