English
exact
Exact comes from Latin exāctus ‘driven out, expelled, having been driven out’, and goes back to exigō ‘demand, claim as due’.
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEexigō‘demand’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEexāctus‘driven out’
- Englishearliest quotation c. 1599–1602exact
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Lineage
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEexigō‘demand’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEexāctus‘driven out’
- Englishearliest quotation c. 1599–1602exact
Earliest quotation: c. 1599–1602, William Shakespeare, The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke: “An exact command, Larded with many several sorts of…”
A compound of ex ‘out’ + agō ‘drive’
Proto-Indo-European *h₁eǵʰs ‘out’
Proto-Italic *eks
Latin ex ‘out’
Proto-Indo-European *h₂eǵ- ‘to drive’
Proto-Indo-European *h₂éǵeti ‘to be driving’
Proto-Italic *agō ‘to drive’
Latin agō ‘drive’
Linked words
through Latin exigō ‘demand, claim as due’
Today it means
adj Precisely agreeing with a standard, a fact, or the truth; perfectly conforming; neither exceeding nor falling short in any respect.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Latin exigō / exact