DictionaryRoot: emere
Latin

emere

take or buy

Forms

  • emere
  • empt- — The changed form used for completed action.
  • -im- — A changed form found in compounds.

Origin

From an older Indo-European root for taking.

Note

The older taking sense survives most clearly in some compounds, while buying became central in the independent Latin verb.

2 / 7
Injured student excused from running exercise.
adjective / verb

exempt

ig-ZEMPT/ɪɡˈzempt/

Free from a requirement, or to make someone or something free from it.

Etymology

The underlying image is being “taken out”: removed from the reach of a rule or obligation. Someone exempt is therefore outside a requirement that still applies to others.

Full entry

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