exit

英文词源

exit

exit: [16] Ultimately, exit is the same word as English issue. Both come from Latin exīre, a compound verb formed from the prefix ex- ‘out’ and īre ‘go’. This Latin verb, which can be traced back to an Indo-European base *ei-, also produced English coitus [18], obituary, and transient (as well as the French future tense irai ‘will go’). The earliest use of exit in English was as a stage direction (it means literally ‘he or she goes out’ in Latin). The sense ‘way out’ is a late 17th-century development, the more concrete ‘door by which one leaves’ as recent as the late 19th century.
=> coitus, obituary, transient

exit (n.)

1530s (late 15c. as a Latin word in English), originally a stage direction, from Latin exit "he or she goes out," third person singular present indicative of exire "go out, go forth, depart," from ex- "out" (see ex-) + ire "to go" (see ion). Also from Latin exitus "a leaving, a going out," noun of action from exire. Meaning "a departure" (originally from the stage) is from 1580s. Meaning "a way of departure" is from 1690s; specific meaning "door for leaving" is from 1786. The verb is c. 1600, from the noun; it ought to be left to stage directions and the clunky jargon of police reports. Related: Exited; exiting.

Those who neither know Latin nor read plays are apt to forget or not know that this is a singular verb with plural exeunt. [Fowler]

Exit poll attested by 1980.