exe
exe Lexical Profile
• noun
A computer file that contains an executable program, commonly associated with DOS and Windows operating systems.
"Make sure to scan the downloaded exe with an antivirus software before running it on your machine."
British A river in southwestern England that rises in Somerset and flows south through Devon to the English Channel at Exmouth.
"We spent a pleasant afternoon walking along the banks of the Exe, watching the rowers glide by."
Word Nuance & Usage
In computing contexts, it is usually pronounced by spelling out the letters (E-X-E) and is typically written with a leading dot (.exe) when referring to the file extension.
• Rhymes for exe
Word Origin & Etymology
As a computing term, it is an abbreviation of 'executable', introduced in the early 1980s for operating systems like MS-DOS. As a river name, it derives from the Celtic word 'Isca', meaning 'water' or 'fish'.
Usage Trend
Historical frequency of usage in published text.