exchange

English Online Dictionary. What means exchange‎? What does exchange mean?

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɛksˈt͡ʃeɪnd͡ʒ/, [ɛkˈst͡ʃeɪnd͡ʒ], /ɪksˈt͡ʃeɪnd͡ʒ/
• Rhymes: -eɪndʒ

Etymology 1

From Middle English eschaunge, borrowed from Anglo-Norman eschaunge, from Old French eschange (whence modern French échange), from the verb eschanger, from Vulgar Latin *excambiāre, present active infinitive of *excambiō (from Latin ex with Late Latin cambiō). Spelling later changed on the basis of ex- in English. By surface analysis, ex- +‎ change.

Noun

exchange (countable and uncountable, plural exchanges)

1. An act of exchanging or trading.

2. A place for conducting trading.

3. A telephone exchange.
4. (telephony, US) The fourth through sixth digits of a ten-digit phone number (the first three before the introduction of area codes).

5. A conversation.
6. (chess) The loss of one piece and associated capture of another.
   1. (usually with "the") The loss of a minor piece (typically a bishop or knight) and associated capture of the more advantageous rook.
7. (obsolete) The thing given or received in return; especially, a publication exchanged for another.
8. (biochemistry) The transfer of substances or elements like gas, amino-acids, ions etc. sometimes through a surface like a membrane.
9. (finance) The difference between the values of money in different places.
10. (law, England and Wales, Northern Ireland) Clipping of exchange of contracts.

Derived terms

Translations

Etymology 2

From Middle English eschaungen, from Anglo-Norman eschaungier, Old French eschanger, from the Old French verb eschangier, eschanger (whence modern French échanger), from Vulgar Latin *excambiāre, present active infinitive of *excambiō (from Latin ex with Late Latin cambiō). Gradually displaced native Old English wrixlan, wixlan (“to change, exchange, reciprocate”) and its descendants, wrixle being one of them.

Verb

exchange (third-person singular simple present exchanges, present participle exchanging, simple past and past participle exchanged)

1. (transitive) To trade or barter.

2. (transitive, figurative) To mutually direct at each other.

3. (transitive) To replace with, as a substitute.

4. (law, England and Wales, Northern Ireland) Clipping of exchange contracts.
5. (transitive) To recommend and get recommendations.

   Synonym: trade

Synonyms

• (trade or barter): truck, wrixle; See also Thesaurus:trade or Thesaurus:barter
• (replace with a substitute): interchange, swap; See also Thesaurus:switch

Derived terms

Translations

Further reading

• “exchange”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• “exchange”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.
• “exchange”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.