exile (English)

Where does "exile" come from?

The word 'exile' traces back to the Latin exsul, which referred to an exiled person or wanderer. This evolved into the Latin exsilium, a term for the state of banishment, which passed into Old French as essil before entering Middle English. Over centuries, the word preserved its core connection to the act of being forced away from one's home.

Full etymology tree

• exile (English), 'The state of being banished from one's home or country.'
  • inherited exil (Middle English)
    • borrowed exil (Old French)
      • inherited exilium (Latin), 'alternative form of exsilium (“exile, banishment; place of exile”)'
        • suffix exsul (Latin), 'A person who is exiled, exile, wanderer.'
        • suffix -ium (Latin), 'Suffix used to form abstract nouns, sometimes denoting offices and groups. May no longer be productive.'
          • derived -ius (Latin), 'forming adjectives from nouns'

Direct ancestors

• essil (Old French)
• exsilium (Latin)

Updated June 2026

Etymology data from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · About Miraris