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excite [excite 词源字典]: excite: [14] The use of the word excite to convey ‘agitated elation’ is a comparatively recent development, first recorded from the mid 19th century. Before that it was a fairly neutral verb, meaning ‘produce a response, provoke’ (as in the rather formal ‘excite much comment’). It comes, perhaps via Old French exciter, from Latin excitāre ‘call forth, arouse, produce’. This was a variant of exciēre, a compound verb formed from the prefix ex- ‘out’ and ciēre ‘move, call’ (source also of English cite, incite, recite, and solicit).
=> cite, incite, recite, solicit[excite etymology, excite origin, 英语词源]
exclude: exclude: see sluice
excrement: excrement: [16] Latin excrēmentum meant originally ‘that which is sifted out’ (it was a derivative of the verb excernere, a compound formed from the prefix ex- ‘out’ and cernere ‘sift, decide’, from which English gets certain). Hence it was applied metaphorically to any substance that is excreted from or secreted by the body, including sweat, nasal mucus, and milk, as well as faeces. (English acquired excrete [17], incidentally, from the past participle of excernere, excrētus.) This very general sense survived in English into the mid 18th century, when it was finally ousted by the more specific ‘faeces’. (Increment, by the way, is a completely unrelated word, coming ultimately from Latin crēscere ‘grow’.)
=> certain, crime, critic, discern, discriminate, secret
excursion: excursion: see course
excuse: excuse: [13] Etymologically, excuse means ‘free of accusation’. It comes via Old French from Latin excūsāre, a compound verb formed from the prefix ex-, denoting removal, and causa ‘cause’ – but ‘cause’ in the sense not of something that produces a result, but of ‘legal action, accusation’ (a meaning preserved in English ‘cause list’, for example) Originally, the s of both the noun and the verb was pronounced /z/; the /s/ of the modern English noun arose by analogy with such nouns as use and abuse.
=> accuse, cause
execute: execute: [14] The original meaning of execute in English was ‘carry out’, but the sense ‘kill judicially’ had already developed by the end of the 15th century (it comes from the notion of ‘carrying out’ a sentence). The word comes via Old French executer from medieval Latin executāre, a derivative of Latin exsequī. This, a compound formed from the intensive prefix exand sequī ‘follow’ (source of English consecutive, consequent, obsequious, sequence, subsequent, etc), meant originally ‘follow to the end, pursue’, and hence ‘follow through, carry out, fulfil’.

Its derivative exsequiās ‘funeral procession’ produced English exequies [14].
=> consecutive, consequent, obsequious, sequence, subsequent
exempt: exempt: see example
exercise: exercise: [14] The notion underlying exercise is of ‘removal of restraint’. It comes ultimately from Latin exercēre, a compound verb formed from the prefix ex- ‘out of, from’ and arcēre ‘restrain, enclose’ (source of English arcane and related to English ark). It has been speculated that this originally denoted the driving of draught animals out into the fields to plough, but however that may be, it soon developed the general senses ‘set to work, keep at work’ and ‘drill, practise’ which form the semantic basis of English exercise.
=> arcane, ark
exigent: exigent: see exact
exile: exile: [13] Latin exul meant ‘banished person’. This was formed from the prefix ex- ‘out’ and a prehistoric Indo-European base *ul- ‘go’ (represented also in Latin ambulāre ‘walk’, source of English amble and ambulance). From it was created the noun exilium ‘banishment’, which in Old French became essil. This was subsequently remodelled to exil, on the basis of its Latin source, and passed on to English.
=> amble, ambulance
exist: exist: [17] The ‘existential’ use of exist is a secondary development; to begin with it had the more concrete meaning ‘stand out, so as to be perceptible’. It comes from Latin existere, a compound verb formed from the prefix ex- ‘out’ and sistere ‘be placed, stand firm or still’ (a distant relative of English stand). Its original sense ‘stand out, stand forth’ developed through ‘emerge’ and ‘be visible’ to ‘exist’. The available evidence suggests that it entered English at a surprisingly late date, some centuries after the derivative existence [14] (of which the English verb may be a backformation).
=> stand, statue
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
exodus: exodus: see period
expand: expand: see spawn
expect: expect: [16] Someone who expects something literally ‘looks out’ for it. The word comes from Latin expectāre, a compound verb formed from the prefix ex- ‘out’ and spectāre ‘look’ (source of English spectacle, spectre, spectrum, and speculate). Already in Latin the literal ‘look out’ had shifted metaphorically to ‘look forward to, anticipate’ and ‘await’, meanings adopted wholesale by English (‘await’ has since been dropped).
=> espionage, spectacle, speculate, spy
expedition: expedition: [15] The Latin verb expedīre originally had the rather mundane meaning ‘free one’s feet’ – from a snare, for example It was formed from the prefix ex- ‘out’ and pēs ‘foot’ (source of English pedal, pedestrian, etc and related to English foot). Its literal meaning was soon lost sight of, progressing via ‘extricate, liberate’ to ‘bring out, make ready’ and ‘put in order, arrange, set right’.

The notion of ‘freeing’ something, enabling it to go forward without hindrance, is reflected in the verb’s English descendant expedite [17]. It also survives in the derived noun expedition, as ‘promptness, dispatch’; in the main, however, this has taken a different semantic route, via ‘sending out a military force’ to ‘long organized journey for a particular purpose’.
=> expedite, foot, pedal, pedestrian
expel: expel: see pulse
expend: expend: see spend
experience: experience: [14] Experience, experiment [14], and expert [14] all come from the same source, Latin experīrī. This was a compound verb formed from the prefix ex- ‘out’ and a prehistoric base *per- denoting ‘attempt, trial’ (found also in English empirical, peril, pirate, and repertory), and meant ‘try, test’. The original meaning is best preserved in experiment, but in fact experience too meant at first ‘putting to the test’ in English.

From this developed the notion of ‘actually observing phenomena in order to gain knowledge of them’, which in turn led to the more subjective ‘condition of having undergone or been affected by a particular event’. The sense ‘knowledge or skill gained from such observation or from undergoing such events’ did not, however, emerge until the late 15th century. Expert was originally only an adjective, meaning ‘having experience of something’, or ‘trained by such experience’; its use as a noun only developed in the 19th century.
=> empirical, experiment, expert, peril, pirate, repertory
expiate: expiate: see pious