ex

Everyday

1. (informal) A person's former husband, wife, girlfriend or boyfriend: «my mum's ex». tree →
2. As a prefix «ex-», it means «former» or «no longer»: ex-teacher, ex-president, ex-wife. tree →
3. (money, formal) «ex» means «without»: «ex VAT» means without the tax. tree →
4. The letter X. tree →

In the lessons

In adult life, after a divorce or break-up, people call their former partner «my ex». In news and stories «ex-» shows who someone used to be. In maths, «x» (said «ex») is often the unknown number. Phrases: «my ex», «his ex-wife», «ex-pupil», «ex-boyfriend».

Examples

• Dad still gets on well with his ex. tree →
• My aunt's ex came to the party. tree →
• Mr Lee is an ex-soldier. tree →
• She is an ex-pupil of our school. tree →
• The ex-champion now trains young swimmers. tree →
• In the sum 3 + x = 7, «ex» stands for 4. tree →

Note

Informal as a noun; plural exes. As a prefix it needs a hyphen: ex-wife. Trap: do not confuse with «x» the letter used in algebra, which sounds the same. Sensitive word in family talk.

In Jewish tradition

Here "ex." is short for "example", and "ex-" starts a word such as "express" or "explained". In the primary lessons: In adult life, after a divorce or break-up, people call their former partner «my ex». In news and stories «ex-» shows who someone used to be. In maths, «x» (said «ex») is often the unknown number. Phrases: «my ex», «his ex-wife», «ex-pupil», «ex-boyfriend».

Examples

• Depth [note 15: עוֹמֶק ʽomeq ‘depth’ here is based on the metaphor of עֲמֻקָּה ʽamuqqah ‘deepness’ as a symbol of divine mystery, as found in Biblical poetry, ex. [Job 11:8], [Psalms 64:7], [Ecclesiastes 7:24]. (Sefer Yetzirah, Sefaria community translation) tree →
• The numeral system of tlie Sefer Tetzirah, as I have ex- plained, may be considered to consist of live symbols, |, ||, III, nil, 0, the cipher being the fifth symbol. (Mordell, The Origin of Letters and Numerals according to Sefer Yetzirah (1914)) tree →
• As, according to the Sefer Yctzirah, it is possible to ex- press all numbers by the ten Sefirot"*), we must demonstrate liow all numbers, even those higher tiian nine, may be indi- cated by the ten strokes. (Mordell, The Origin of Letters and Numerals according to Sefer Yetzirah (1914)) tree →

Note

Informal as a noun; plural exes. As a prefix it needs a hyphen: ex-wife. Trap: do not confuse with «x» the letter used in algebra, which sounds the same. Sensitive word in family talk.