exchange
Pluralexchanges
Verbexchanges, exchanging, exchanged
Pluralexchanges
Formsexchanges, exchanging, exchanged
- 1An act of trading one thing for another, or of giving and receiving in return.
The peace deal involved an exchange of prisoners between the two sides.
Their exchange of wedding vows took place at sunset.
UsageCommon in in exchange for something, or just in exchange; also an exchange of gifts, prisoners or vows.
Similarswap, trade, interchange, barter
- 2Of two or more people, to give each other things of the same kind, such as glances, words, blows, ideas, or advice.
Old friends exchange knowing looks at every reunion.
The two leaders exchanged sharp remarks during the summit.
UsageUsually with a plural object and no for: exchange glances, exchange blows, exchange a few words.
Note
Unlike the trading verb, nothing here changes hands for something else. Each side directs the same kind of thing at the other: fire, glances, blows, sharp remarks. Compare "exchanged fire" with "exchanged a car for a boat".
- 3A place or organization where commodities, securities, or currencies are traded.
The company listed its shares on the London exchange.
Prices on the exchange fell sharply that afternoon.
UsageShares are listed or traded on an exchange; the best-known kind is the stock exchange.
Similarmarket
- 4
- 5A conversation, especially a brief back-and-forth in which people share words or remarks.
A heated exchange broke out between the two senators during the debate.
After a brief exchange of pleasantries, they got down to business.
UsageOften a heated exchange, or an exchange of views, words or pleasantries between people.
Similarconversation, dialogue, discussion, argument, altercation
- 6An arrangement under which people, most often students, from two countries or institutions visit or stay with one another for a period.
The university runs an exchange with a partner school in Seoul, and twenty students swap campuses each spring.
During her exchange in Madrid, she lived with a local family and took classes in Spanish.
UsagePeople go on an exchange to a place, and the students are exchange students.
- 7To give up or leave one thing and take another in its place, as a change of what one has or uses rather than a trade with someone else.
The mechanic exchanged the worn tire for a fresh one.
Staff exchange the old batteries for charged ones each evening.
UsageIn a shop you exchange something for another one; getting your money back instead is a refund.
- 8The difference in the value of money from one place to another, as between local and foreign currency.
Merchants tracked the exchange between local and foreign coin to time their trades.
When the exchange turned against them, exporters found their goods harder to sell abroad.
UsageToday the usual term is exchange rate or rate of exchange.
Note
An older financial use, in which the word means the value gap itself: what one place's money is worth against another's. Merchants trading abroad had to reckon with it, and a favorable exchange let importers buy more for the same coin. In practice the difference is expressed as the rate at which one currency converts into another.
Checked 5 Nov 2026 · 4 facts
- Exchange has an established financial sense meaning the difference between monetary values in different places. en.wiktionary.org
- This financial use existed historically. en.wikisource.org
- A favorable exchange rate increases importers' purchasing power. bls.gov
- Relative currency values are expressed through a conversion rate. en.wikipedia.org
- 9The transfer of substances such as gases, amino acids, or ions, sometimes across a surface like a membrane.
In the lungs, the exchange of oxygen and carbon dioxide occurs across thin alveolar walls.
Ion exchange across the cell membrane maintains the proper electrical balance.
Similartransfer
Note
In biochemistry, the word usually appears in compounds that name what is moving: gas exchange in the lungs, where oxygen and carbon dioxide cross the thin alveolar walls, or ion exchange across a cell membrane. The membrane is often the point of interest, because it decides what passes. The movement itself is frequently driven by concentration gradients.
Checked 5 Nov 2026 · 5 facts
- Lung gas exchange involves oxygen and carbon dioxide crossing the thin alveolar-capillary barrier. openstax.org
- Ions are transported across cell membranes. openstax.org
- Cell membranes selectively control which substances pass. openstax.org
- Membrane selectivity controls passage, but passive transport direction depends on concentration and electrical gradients; active transport requires an energy source. oer.hax.psu.edu
- Concentration gradients frequently drive substance movement. openstax.org
- 10A central facility that switches and connects telephone calls between subscribers.
Engineers upgraded the local exchange to handle digital calls.
A fault at the exchange knocked out service for the whole district.
Note
Telephone engineers' shorthand: the word is short for telephone exchange, and central office is the equivalent technical name. It refers to the building and its switching equipment, so people speak of the local exchange or a fault at the exchange. The number-prefix meaning borrows the word for the digits that once pointed a call to one of these offices.
Checked 5 Nov 2026 · 4 facts
- In telephony, exchange is short for telephone exchange. en.wiktionary.org
- Central office is an equivalent technical term. en.wikipedia.org
- The term can denote both the building and its switching equipment. en.wikipedia.org
- The number-prefix sense extends the term to digits identifying a central office. en.wiktionary.org
Less common meanings
- 11In board games such as chess, the loss of one piece together with the capture of an opposing one.
The grandmaster initiated an exchange to simplify the position.
Declining the exchange, he moved his bishop to safety.
Note
A chess player's word for a trade of pieces: you capture, and in return you are captured, usually with pieces of comparable value. Players initiate, offer or decline an exchange. They often do so to simplify the position, because fewer pieces on the board means fewer complications. A run of these trades can quickly empty the board and turn a middlegame into an endgame.
Checked 5 Nov 2026 · 5 facts
- A chess exchange involves reciprocal captures. en.wikipedia.org
- Exchanged pieces are usually of comparable value. en.wikipedia.org
- Players use exchanges to simplify positions. en.wikipedia.org
- Reducing the number of pieces generally reduces the variations players must calculate. chess.com
- A series of exchanges can remove pieces and produce a transition from middlegame to endgame. en.wikipedia.org
- 12In chess, the loss of a minor piece such as a bishop or knight in return for capturing the more valuable rook.
She won the exchange when her bishop captured the enemy rook.
Down the exchange, he fought hard to hold the draw.
Note
Here the definite article does most of the work. The exchange, usually with the, means a rook won at the cost of a bishop or knight. The player who takes the rook has won the exchange and gains material; the opponent is down the exchange. Without the article, an exchange usually means any trade of pieces.
Checked 5 Nov 2026 · 4 facts
- The special chess sense involves giving up a bishop or knight and capturing a more valuable rook. en.wiktionary.org
- The player capturing the rook wins the exchange and gains material; the opponent is down the exchange. en.wikipedia.org
- The special sense also occurs with an, as in 'an exchange up'; the article alone does not determine the meaning. newinchess.com
- An exchange can have either the general sense or the special rook-for-minor-piece sense. newinchess.com
- 13Something given or received in return for something else, especially a journal or other publication that is swapped for another one.
Lady, as you are mine, I am yours, I giue away my selfe for you, and doat vpon the exchange.
1598, William Shakespeare, “Much Adoe about Nothing”Note
An obsolete use that names the thing you get back, not the act of trading. In Much Adoe about Nothing, Shakespeare's lover gives himself away and will "doat vpon the exchange", meaning he dotes on the beloved he receives in return. Today, use it only when quoting or writing historically; modern English says what one gets in exchange or in return.
Checked 5 Nov 2026 · 2 facts
- Much Adoe about Nothing is a play by William Shakespeare. hcmc.uvic.ca
- The lover speaking is Claudio, who gives himself for Hero and says 'doat vpon the exchange', referring to the beloved received in return. firstfolio.bodleian.ox.ac.uk
- 14Clipping of exchange contracts: the verb use, meaning to carry out that swap of signed contracts.
We exchanged on the house on Friday, so the buyers can no longer pull out.
Our solicitor expects us to exchange next week and complete on the new flat by the end of the month.
Note
The verb behind the conveyancing stage, and it drops its object entirely. The parties simply exchange, or exchanged last week, and "contracts" is understood. Exchanging binds them to the sale or purchase of the land, usually with a deposit. In practice, signed counterparts of the contract pass between each side's legal representatives.
Checked 5 Nov 2026 · 3 facts
- Exchanging contracts legally binds the parties to the property transaction. gov.uk
- Exchange usually involves a deposit. gov.uk
- Signed counterparts pass between the parties' legal representatives. farleys.com
- 15Clipping of exchange of contracts.
Exchange took place a week before completion.
Both parties signed and posted the contracts to effect exchange.
Note
Conveyancers' shorthand in England and Wales and in Northern Ireland. It names the stage at which a contract to dispose of land actually comes into existence, and a deposit is usually paid at that point. It is distinct from completion, which usually comes later. The word usually stands without an article: exchange took place a week before completion.
Checked 5 Nov 2026 · 4 facts
- The conveyancing process described applies in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. moneyhelper.org.uk
- Exchange is the stage at which the agreement to dispose of the property becomes legally binding. gov.uk
- A deposit is usually paid at exchange. nidirect.gov.uk
- Completion is a distinct stage that usually occurs later, but exchange and completion can occur simultaneously. gov.uk
- 16The part of a telephone number that represents, or once represented, a particular central office.
Showing meanings only.
Practice
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Origins
The noun came through Middle English and Anglo-Norman from Old French eschange, which came from the verb eschanger and ultimately from Vulgar Latin *excambiāre (from Latin ex plus Late Latin cambiō). The spelling later shifted to reflect ex-, with pronunciation following. By surface analysis it is ex- + change.
Checked 5 Nov 2026 · 6 facts
- The noun derives through Middle English and Anglo-Norman from Old French eschange. en.wiktionary.org
- Old French eschange derives from the verb eschanger, also spelled eschangier. en.wiktionary.org
- The French verb ultimately derives from reconstructed Vulgar Latin *excambiāre. en.wiktionary.org
- The reconstructed Latin verb combines Latin ex with Late Latin cambiō. en.wiktionary.org
- The spelling was changed to reflect ex-, and pronunciation followed that spelling change. en.wiktionary.org
- The word can be analysed on its surface as ex- + change. en.wiktionary.org
The verb came through Middle English and Anglo-Norman from the Old French verb eschangier, and ultimately from Vulgar Latin *excambiāre (from Latin ex plus Late Latin cambiō). It gradually displaced the native Old English wrixlan ("to change, exchange, reciprocate") and its descendants.
Checked 5 Nov 2026 · 3 facts
- The verb descended through Middle English and Anglo-Norman from Old French eschangier. en.wiktionary.org
- The ultimate source was Vulgar Latin *excambiāre, formed from Latin ex and Late Latin cambiō. en.wiktionary.org
- Exchange gradually displaced native Old English wrixlan and its descendants. en.wiktionary.org