exodus

See also: Exodus

English

Etymology

From Latin exodus, from Ancient Greek ἔξοδος (éxodos, “expedition, procession, departure”). Doublet of exodos. From late Old English only as a proper noun, Exodus, the biblical book; use as a common noun is from the early 17th century.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈɛksədəs/, /ˈɛɡzədəs/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

Noun

exodus (plural exoduses or exodi)

1. A sudden departure of a large number of people.
   • 1839, John Delafield Jr., An Inquiry into the Origin of the Antiquities of America, Cincinnati, Oh.: N. G. Burgess & Co., page 75:

     There were no less than three exodi from Egypt. The first was the one just named, viz: the expulsion of two hundred and forty thousand Cuthites by Halisphragmuthosis; this occurred about two hundred years before the entrance of the Israelitish shepherds into Egypt. The second exodus was that of this once holy people, under the guidance of the Almighty, through his servant Moses, the account of which we have in profane history, substantiated in the minutest particulars by the sacred writings given us through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, which protected and preserved the race. But the third is not so generally known.

   • 1909, Olaf A[lfred] Toffteen, The Historic Exodus (Researches in Biblical Archaeology), Chicago, Ill.: The University of Chicago Press, pages 147 (Differences Between P and JED.—The Settlements in Egypt) and 164 (Differences Between P and JED.—The Going-out from Egypt):

     Now if, as we have seen good reason for believing, the documents were composed within forty or fifty years after the leaving of Egypt, it is hard to believe that their authors should have been so confused and so forgetful that they confounded two city-lands so distinct and separate as Goshen and Raamses, and were ignorant as to which was really the Israelite habitat when in Egypt. There suggests itself at once the hypothetical question, Were there two exodi, one from Raamses and the other from Goshen? […] Only on the hypothesis of two exodi, one to the south, the other to the north, do the two accounts of the route out of Egypt become explainable.

   • 1960, Mosquito News, volume 20, American Mosquito Control Association, page 145:

     At 18^h00′, 21 minutes before sunset, the migrants started to depart in waves as already described for other exodi; […]

   • 1989, African Study Monographs - Volume 10, page 6:

     Further, rural exodus, especially among young generations who refuse to engage themselves in hard, misremunerated agricultural work, is also a cause of the current crisis.

   • 2000, Ricardo René Larémont, Islam and the Politics of Resistance in Algeria, 1783-1992, Africa World Press, Inc., →ISBN, page 54:

     While this report acknowledged that resentment of military conscription without the provision of political rights was one reason for the exodus, it went on to recommend that the entire colonial system in Algeria needed reform to prevent future exodi.

   • 2016, Gijsbert J.B. Sulman, Facts, Fiction, and the Bible: The Truth Behind the Stories in the Old Testament, Balboa Press, →ISBN:

     That Artapanus was able to give the name of the pharaoh involved in his version of the story shows that this was known in his time (ca 250 BCE) and that the amalgamation of the different exodi into one epic must have taken place around that time or later.

Translations

sudden departure

• Aghwan: 𐔸𐔰𐔱𐕈𐕆𐔴𐕚𐕒𐕡𐕎 (tabåhesun)
• Armenian: զանգվածային մեկնում (zangvacayin meknum), գաղթ (hy) (gaġtʻ), արտագաղթ (hy) (artagaġtʻ)
• Belarusian: вы́хад m (výxad), зыхо́д m (zyxód)
• Bulgarian: изсе́лване (bg) n (izsélvane), и́зход (bg) m (ízhod)
• Catalan: èxode (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 離去／离去 (zh) (líqù), 走出 (zh) (zǒuchū) (literally, figuratively)

• Czech: exodus (cs) m
• Dutch: exodus (nl) m, uittocht (nl) m
• Esperanto: eliro
• Finnish: eksodus (fi), joukkopako
• French: exode (fr) m
• Galician: éxodo m
• German: Exodus (de) m
• Gothic: 𐌿𐍂𐍂𐌿𐌽𐍃 f (urruns)
• Greek: έξοδος (el) f (éxodos)
• Hungarian: kivonulás (hu)
• Indonesian: eksodus (id)
• Italian: esodo (it) m
• Japanese: 退去 (ja) (たいきょ, taikyo), 脱出 (ja) (だっしゅつ, dasshutsu), 移動 (ja) (いどう, idō)
• Korean: 탈출(脫出) (ko) (talchul), 이동(移動) (ko) (idong)
• Kyrgyz: үркүн (ky) (ürkün)
• Macedonian: егзо́дус m (egzódus)
• Occitan: exòde (oc) m
• Polish: exodus (pl) m
• Portuguese: êxodo (pt) m
• Romanian: exod (ro) n
• Russian: исхо́д (ru) m (isxód), ма́ссовый отъе́зд m (mássovyj otʺjézd, literally “mass departure”)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Roman: егзо́дус m

  Roman: egzódus (sh) m

• Slovak: exodus m
• Slovene: éksodus m
• Spanish: éxodo (es) m
• Swedish: uttåg (sv) n, exodus (sv)
• Ukrainian: ма́совий від'ї́зд m (másovyj vidʺjízd), ви́хід (uk) m (výxid)

Verb

exodus (third-person singular simple present exoduses, present participle exodusing, simple past and past participle exodused)

1. To depart from a place in a large group.

Related terms

• exodist
• exodust

Further reading

• Douglas Harper (2001–2024) “exodus”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.

Anagrams

• udoxes

Dutch

Etymology

From Exodus.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈɛk.soːˌdʏs/

• Audio

  (file)

• Hyphenation: exo‧dus

Noun

exodus m (plural exodussen, diminutive exodusje n)

1. exodus

Synonyms

• uittocht

Polish

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from Latin exodus, from Ancient Greek ἔξοδος (éxodos). Doublet of exodos.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɛkˈsɔ.dus/
• Rhymes: -ɔdus
• Syllabification: e‧xo‧dus
• Homophone: Exodus

Noun

exodus m inan

1. (figuratively, literary) exodus (sudden departure of a large number of people)

Declension

Declension of exodus

	singular	plural
nominative	exodus	exodusy
genitive	exodusu	exodusów
dative	exodusowi	exodusom
accusative	exodus	exodusy
instrumental	exodusem	exodusami
locative	exodusie	exodusach
vocative	exodusie	exodusy

Further reading

• exodus in Polish dictionaries at PWN