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exedo

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Etymology and origin of the Latin word exedo

Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
c. 250–184 BC, Plautus
Ultimate origin
Proto-Indo-European (*h₁ed-)
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
Latin edo
Latin editus
Latin edax
Latin comedo
Latin editor
English editor
Latin exedo
Latin esurio

Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ˈɛk.sɛ.doː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ˈɛk.se.do][1]

Forms

exedō (present infinitive exedere or exēsse, perfect active exēdī, supine exēsum or exēssum or exēstum); third conjugation, irregular alternative forms[1] Plautus has the archaic subjunctive exedint and the participle exessus.[2] Seneca has the later present exedit for exest.[3][2]

Etymology

It is from Latin ex- + edō (“to eat”).[3][1][4] The verb edō goes back to Proto-Italic *edō and Proto-Indo-European *h₁ed- (“to eat”).[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Its first example in the OLD is Plautus' screech owls that would eat out the guests' innards.[3]

Semantic evolution

It is to eat up or devour, and to eat away, as Apuleius' viper that eats its way out of its mother's womb.[3] Of fire and corrosive things it is to eat away or consume, as in Cicero, and to waste away, as Seneca's wasted flanks; figuratively Petronius has usury sapping the strength of the people.[3] It is also to hollow out, as the cave in the Bellum Hispaniense, and of passions to consume, as Plautus' “I am eaten up with waiting”.[3]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus of eating up and of being eaten up with waiting.[3][6]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero of something eaten away.[3][6]
  • before 66 AD – Petronius of usury sapping the people.[3][6]
  • c. 125–175 AD – Apuleius of a viper eating its way out.[3][6]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To eat up, devour; to eat away.[3][2][1]
  2. Of fire or corrosion, to consume, corrode; to waste away.[3][1]
  3. To make hollow.[3]
  4. Of passions, to consume.[3]

Word family

  • exēsor
  • inexesus

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  4. ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  5. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  6. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
Cite this entry

“Exedo.” Etymologically, 19 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/la/exedo. Accessed 20 Oct. 2026.

Last edited on . ·