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Exchange vs Interchangeable - What's the difference?

exchange | interchangeable |

As a noun exchange

is an act of exchanging or trading.

As a verb exchange

is to trade or barter.

As an adjective interchangeable is

freely substitutable. May be swapped at will.

exchange

English

(wikipedia exchange)

Etymology 1

From (etyl) eschaunge, from (etyl) eschaunge, from (etyl) eschange (whence modern French ). Spelling later changed on the basis of ex- in English.

Noun

(en noun)
  • An act of exchanging or trading.
    • All in all, it was an even exchange .
    an exchange of cattle for grain
  • A place for conducting trading.
    • The stock exchange is open for trading.
  • A telephone exchange.
  • (telephony, US only? ) The fourth through sixth digits of a ten-digit phone number (the first three before the introduction of area codes).
    • The 555 exchange is reserved for use by the phone company, which is why it's often used in films.
    NPA-NXX-1234 is standard format, where NPA is the area code and NXX is the exchange .
  • A conversation.
    • After an exchange with the manager, we were no wiser.
  • * 2014 , Ian Black, " Courts kept busy as Jordan works to crush support for Isis", The Guardian , 27 November 2014:
    • “Why bother with the daily grind when you can go to Mosul, get paid $400 a month, get a wife – and live an Islamic way,” went an exchange between two men overheard by a fellow passenger in a taxi. Rumour has it that a woman whose husband died fighting with Isis now receives a generous widow’s pension from jihadi coffers.
  • (chess) The loss of one piece and associated capture of another
  • # The loss of a relatively minor piece (typically a bishop or knight) and associated capture of the more advantageous rook
  • (obsolete) The thing given or received in return; especially, a publication exchanged for another.
    • (Shakespeare)
    Derived terms
    * bet exchange * bill of exchange * exchange rate * foreign exchange * foreign exchange market * ion exchange * ion exchange chromatography * ion exchange resin * key exchange * link exchange * local exchange carrier * means of exchange * medium of exchange * private branch exchange * stock exchange * telephone exchange

    Etymology 2

    From (etyl) eschaungen, from (etyl) eschaungier, eschanger, from the (etyl) verb eschangier, ).

    Verb

    (exchang)
  • To trade or barter.
    • I'll gladly exchange my place for yours.
  • To replace with, as a substitute.
    • I'd like to exchange this shirt for one in a larger size.
    Since his arrest, the mob boss has exchanged a mansion for a jail cell.
    Derived terms
    * exchange flesh * exchanger * exchange vows

    External links

    * * *

    interchangeable

    English

    Adjective

    (-)
  • Freely substitutable. May be swapped at will.
    • Eli Whitney's development of interchangeable parts was a breakthrough for modern manufacturing. Prior to that each part had to be made custom.
  • * 2014 , Ian Jack, " Is this the end of Britishness", The Guardian , 16 September 2014:
    • The English, until relatively recently, seem to have imagined “English” and “British” to be interchangeable , as if Britain was just a bigger England.

    Derived terms

    * interchangeably