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ex

/ɛks/noun, verb, adjective

ex is spelled E-X: 2 letters and one syllable. It appears 65 times per million words in written English, the 1,636th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, ex means “The name of the Latin script letter X/x” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of ex is exes or $exes.

How many letters and syllables are in ex?

Letters2: E-X
Syllables1 (from its American pronunciation)
In writing65 times per million words; the 1,636th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search

Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).

How common is ex?

Ex appears 65 times per million words in written English, the 1,636th most frequent word form in the list.

Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).

How do you pronounce ex?

  • /ɛks/

Ex has one syllable (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-ex.ogg, LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-ex-.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

Words people confuse with ex

Also written: exhibition.

Sources: English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).

Forms of ex

  • exes plural, present, singular, he/she/it
  • exing participle, present
  • exed participle, past
  • more ex comparative
  • most ex superlative
  • e-
  • $exes plural

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What does ex mean?

The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).

noun

  1. 1

    The name of the Latin script letter X/x.

    Thus first C checks to see if ex and wye are equal. The resulting value of 1 or 0 (true or false) then is compared to the value of zee.

  2. 2

    colloquialA former partner or spouse; an ex-girlfriend, ex-boyfriend, ex-wife, or ex-husband.

    My friend has an ex who now lives abroad.

  3. 3

    CanadaClipping of exhibition.

verb

  1. 1

    To delete; to cross out.

  2. 2

    slangTo extinguish the life of.

adjective

  1. 1

    Ex-, former, previously but no longer.

  2. 2

    My algebra II teacher's dad is an ex PE teacher at the same school.

  3. 3

    the place the train originated from or called at prior to the present location.

  4. 4

    colloquialexpensive, dear

    It's too ex.

noun

as Ex
  1. 1

    Alternative letter-case form of ex.

noun

as EX
  1. 1

    Initialism of employee experience.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

Ex in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchixe (name of the letter X, x), ex (colloquial: former partner or spouse), ex- (former)
GermanIx, Iks (name of the letter X, x), Ex (colloquial: former partner or spouse), ex- (former)
Portuguesexis (name of the letter X, x), ex (colloquial: former partner or spouse), ex- (former)
Spanishequis (name of the letter X, x), ex (colloquial: former partner or spouse), ex- (former)

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.

Where does ex come from?

From Latin ex.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What to look up after ex