exponent

Etymology

From Latin expōnēns, present participle of expōnō (“to expose; to exhibit, display, set out; to explain”), from ex- (“out, away”) + pōnō (“to lay, place, put”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ɛkˈspəʊnənt/, /ˈɛkspənənt/, /ɪkˈkspəʊnənt/

  • Audio (Southern England):

    (file)

• (General American, Canada) IPA^(key): /ɛkˈspoʊnənt/, /ˈɛkspoʊnənt/

  • Audio (Canadá):

    (file)

• (General Australian) IPA^(key): /ekˈspəʉnənt/
• Hyphenation: ex‧po‧nent

Noun

exponent (plural exponents)

1. One who expounds, represents or advocates.
   • 1925 July – 1926 May, A[rthur] Conan Doyle, “(please specify the chapter number)”, in The Land of Mist (eBook no. 0601351h.html), Australia: Project Gutenberg Australia, published April 2019:

     Like attracts like," explained Mrs. Mailey, who was quite as capable an exponent as her husband.

   • 1997, Nancy Sherman, Making a Necessity of Virtue: Aristotle and Kant on Virtue, page 1:

     To think of Kant as an exponent of virtue may seem to some readers itself novel and not easily associated with the Kant familiar to discussions of justice and rights.

2. (mathematics) The number by which a value (called the base) is said to be raised to a power in exponentiation: for example, the ${\displaystyle 3}$ in ${\displaystyle 2^{3}=8}$.

   Synonym: power

3. (mathematics, obsolete) The degree to which the root of a radicand is found, for example, the ${\displaystyle 2}$ in ${\displaystyle {\sqrt[{2}]{r}}=b}$.

   Synonyms: degree, power

   • 1711, [Jacques Ozanam], “Abridgement of Algebra. Chapter I. Of Monomes.”, in Daniel Hilman, transl., M. Ozanam's Introduction to the Mathematicks or His Algebra: Wherein the Rudiments of that Most Useful Science are Made Plain to a Mean Capacity. Done out of French, London: Printed for R. Sare at Gray's-Inn-Gate in Holborn, →OCLC, problem IV (“To Divide a Quantity by a Quantity”), page 9:

     A Power that hath neither the Signs ${\displaystyle +}$ or ${\displaystyle -}$ before it, is look'd upon as Affirmative, and if it be preceded by a Number that contains the Root ſought and its Exponent may be commenſured by the Exponent of the Root; namely for the Square Root by 2, for the Cube by 3, &c. it will contain the Root ſought.

   • 1717, Philip Ronayne, “Of the Indices, or Exponents of Powers”, in A Treatise of Algebra in Two Books: The First Treating of the Arithmetical, and the Second of the Geometrical Part, book I, part V, London: Printed for W[illiam] Innys at the Prince's Arms in St. Paul's Church-Yard, →OCLC, page 69:

     And univerſally the Exponent of the m Power, is m times the Exponent of the Root, and the Exponent of the m-Root (or ${\displaystyle {\frac {1}{m}}}$ Power) is ${\displaystyle {\frac {1}{m}}}$ times the Exponent of the Root.

   • 1845, Dionysius Lardner, “Algebra”, in Edward Smedley, Hugh James Rose, Henry John Rose, editors, Encyclopædia Metropolitana; or, Universal Dictionary of Knowledge, on an Original Plan: Comprising the Twofold Advantage of a Philosophical and an Alphabetical Arrangement, with Appropriate Engravings, volume I (Pure Sciences, volume 1), London: B. Fellowes [et al.], →OCLC, page 534:

     The notation by which the root is expressed, is the mark ${\displaystyle {\sqrt {}}}$ called a radical, placed over the letter, with an exponent to the left indicating the order of the root.

4. (linguistics) A manifestation of a morphosyntactic property.
   • 2015, Ruth Kramer, The Morphosyntax of Gender, page 83:

     However, there have been no examples presented of gender systems where the plain n triggers one exponent for gender agreement, and the male and female ns together trigger a different exponent.

5. (computing) The part of a floating-point number that represents its exponent value.

See also

Other terms used in arithmetic operations:

Advanced hyperoperations: tetration, pentation, hexation

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈɛksponɛnt]

Noun

exponent m inan

1. (mathematics) exponent (the power to which something is raised)

   Synonym: mocnitel

   V zápisu 1,45E10 je 1,45 mantisa a 10 exponent. (In the notation 1.45E10, 1.45 is the mantissa and 10 the exponent.) ― (please add an English translation of this usage example)

Noun

exponent m anim (female equivalent exponentka)

1. exponent (person who advocates a position)

Further reading

• “exponent”, in Příruční slovník jazyka českého (in Czech), 1935–1957
• “exponent”, in Slovník spisovného jazyka českého (in Czech), 1960–1971, 1989
• “exponent”, in Internetová jazyková příručka (in Czech), 2008–2025

Etymology

Learned borrowing from Latin expōnēns. The sense “typical representative” is from English exponent.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˌɛks.poːˈnɛnt/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Hyphenation: ex‧po‧nent
• Rhymes: -ɛnt

Noun

exponent m (plural exponenten)

1. (mathematics) exponent (number by which a base is raised to a power)
2. exponent; someone or something that characterically represents or advocates something, typical representative or advocate

Verb

expōnent

1. third-person plural future active indicative of expōnō

Etymology

Borrowed from German Exponent or Latin exponens.

Noun

exponent m (plural exponenți)

1. exponent

Noun

exponent m inan

1. (mathematics) exponent

Further reading

• “exponent”, in Slovníkový portál Jazykovedného ústavu Ľ. Štúra SAV [Dictionary portal of the Ľ. Štúr Institute of Linguistics, Slovak Academy of Science] (in Slovak), https://slovnik.juls.savba.sk, 2003–2025

Pronunciation

• Audio:

  (file)

Noun

exponent c

1. (mathematics) exponent