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A colleague of mine found reference to the word "Exgest" in a contract. In context, this appeared to mean the opposite of the word "Ingest" which was used earlier in the contract. These words were intended to convey the consumption and processing of data in a system.

Does this word, "Exgest", actually exist, and what does it mean?

Edit:
List of prior research:
google: exgest
google: word definition exgest
google: site:dictionary.com exgest
reverse lookup: opposite of ingest
merriam webster search: exgest
dictionary.com exgest
english.stackexchange.com search

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    Well, it exists (or did at one time) as a cold medication.
    – Hot Licks
    Apr 10, 2015 at 19:29

3 Answers 3

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The proper antonym of ingest is egest not exgest. Etymologically e- serves the same purpose as ex-.

egest

To discharge or excrete from the body.

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  • So then the word "exgest" does not exist?
    – funkymushroom
    Oct 1, 2013 at 19:54
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    No it doesn't. e- and ex- prefixes are similar variants and egestion sounds better and is less complicated than exgestion.
    – user49727
    Oct 1, 2013 at 19:59
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    Actually it does exist, but it's a proper noun. It's the trade name of a medication. Egest is 100% correct, I'm just pointing out that Exgest is technically a word, but not in the sense of your question
    – Giambattista
    Oct 1, 2013 at 20:14
  • ‘Exgest’ would be akin to having ‘absduct’ instead of ‘abduct’. The extra s is only used before certain consonants in Latin. In modern words coined by people who don’t know Latin properly, anything goes, as the name of the medication shows.
    – Janus Bahs Jacquet
    Oct 1, 2013 at 21:58
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    @JanusBahsJacquet, Au contraire, for trademark purposes something that's easy to remember and to pronounce, but not a word is a good medicine name.
    – Andrew Lazarus
    Oct 2, 2013 at 5:42
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There are also another two similar terms applicable for data flows:

ingress and egress

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  • Although the term "data ingestion" seems to be more common than "data ingress" (and "data egress" is virtually not used at all), I like the matching pair of "ingress" and "egress".
    – moi
    Jan 21 at 8:34
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I would suggest data import and data export.

Plain and simple and everyone immediately understands the meaning. (This advantage should not be underestimated, especially when non-native speakers are involved who also might not be familiar with latin.)

(For a discussion of further options, see e.g.: https://blog.greglow.com/2019/06/04/opinion-data-ingestion-and-opposites/)

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  • I totally agree, practically, in a business context, to use as simple and explanatory words as possible. My original question was an etymological one however, so the accepted answer stands, however I will give you some rep for your great answer.
    – funkymushroom
    Jan 21 at 15:15

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