A prefix from the latin preposition ex akin to Gr ex or ek signifying out of out proceeding from Hence in composition it signifies out of as in exhale exclude off from or out as in exscind beyond as in excess exceed excel and sometimes has a privative sense of without as in exalbuminous exsanguinous In some words it intensifies the meaning in others it has little affect on the signification It becomes ef before f as in effuse The form e occurs instead of ex before b d g l m n r and v as in ebullient emanate enormous etc In words from the French it often appears as es sometimes as s or eacute as escape scape eacutelite Ex prefixed to names implying office station condition denotes that the person formerly held the office or is out of the office or condition now as ex president ex governor ex mayor ex convict The Greek form ex becomes ex in English as in exarch ek becomes ec as in eccentric