it

Latin

to go, to walk

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About This Root

The root it comes from one of the most basic verbs in Latin: īre, "to go." It is so short — just two letters in English — that it disappears into the middle of words, and most people never notice it. But once you see it, a whole scattered group of words snaps into a single picture: someone walking, and the prefix telling you which direction.

Walk out of a building and you reach the exit (ex- 'out' + it 'go') — literally "he goes out." The same idea, softened through Old French, gives issue: what "goes out" — money issued by a bank, a magazine's monthly issue, even a problem that has come up (an issue that has "come out" into the open).

Walk across and you have transit (trans- 'across' + it) — goods in transit are going across from one place to another. Stretch the same motion over time and you get transition (a going-across from one state to the next), transient and transitory (passing through, here only briefly), and transience (the quality of not lasting).

Walk into the beginning and you have initial and initiate (in- 'into' + it): to step into the start of something. The initial stage is where you first walk in; to initiate a plan is to set it walking; an initiation ceremony walks a newcomer in through the door.

Walk around, canvassing for votes, and you have ambition (amb- 'around' + it). In ancient Rome, candidates literally walked around the forum soliciting support — that "going about" became the word for the drive to get ahead. The cousin ambient (going around) describes whatever surrounds you: ambient light, ambient noise.

Walk through to the very end and you have perish (per- 'thoroughly' + it, through Old French perir): to go all the way — to die, to be destroyed, to rot. Walk apart, away from the group, and you have sedition (sed- 'apart' + it): a going-aside that becomes rebellion. Walk toward death and Latin gave obituary (ob- 'toward' + it): originally a record of someone's "going down," now the death notice.

Finally the travel branch: an itinerary is the plan of a journey, and an itinerant preacher or worker is one who keeps going from place to place.

One important cleanup: this root used to be cluttered with -itāre verbs like hesitate, imitate, agitate, navigate, and cogitate. They share the look but not the lineage — they come from other Latin verbs entirely, and have been moved out. What remains is the clean īre family: every member is someone going somewhere, and the prefix points the way.

From Latin īre (to go), past participle itum. A short, almost invisible root that hides inside common words. The prefix carries the direction of the going: out (exit, issue), across (transit, transition, transient), into-the-start (initial, initiate), around (ambition, ambient), through-to-the-end (perish), apart (sedition). It also gives travel words: itinerary, itinerant. Note: many -itate verbs (hesitate, imitate, agitate, navigate) only look like this root — they belong elsewhere and have been removed.

Memory Tip

Think of the EXIT sign — ex- (out) + it (go) = "goes out." Wherever you spot this tiny it, picture someone walking, and let the prefix point the way: trans-it goes across, init-iate goes in to start, amb-ition walks around campaigning, per-ish goes all the way to the end.

Core Words Deep Dive

The few words from this family worth telling in full — one by one.

exit

The clearest window into the root. exit is Latin for 'he/she goes out' (ex- 'out' + it 'goes') — a full sentence frozen into one English noun. Originally a stage direction in scripts (Exit Hamlet = 'Hamlet goes out'), it became the everyday word for the way out and, as a verb, the act of leaving. If you remember only one it-word, make it this one: the prefix means out, the it means go.

issue

The same 'going out' as exit, but worn smooth by Old French. Whatever 'goes out' is an issue: coins issued by a mint, a magazine's monthly issue, water issuing from a spring. The 'problem' sense comes from a matter that has 'come out' into view and needs resolving. The surprising spread of meanings — to publish, to flow out, a topic in dispute — all trace back to one idea: something coming forth.

transit

trans- 'across' + it 'go' = going across. The most literal member: goods 'in transit' are physically going from one place to another, and a city's transit system carries people across town. The same root, stretched over time rather than space, gives transition (going across from one state to another) and transient (passing across, lasting only a moment) — a tidy demonstration of how one motion verb spawns a whole cluster.

initiate

in- 'into' + it 'go' + -ate = to make something go into its beginning, to set it walking. To initiate a process is to get it started; to initiate someone is to walk them in through the door of a group (which is why secret societies hold initiation rites). The shared image is a threshold being crossed inward — the first step of a journey, not just any start.

ambition

The member with the best story. amb- 'around' + it 'go' = a going-about. In the Roman Republic, candidates for office literally walked around the forum in white togas, shaking hands and soliciting votes. That circuit of canvassing — the ambitio — became the word for the hungry drive to rise and succeed. The relative ambient ('going around' you) keeps the literal sense: ambient light or noise is whatever circulates in your surroundings.

Related Roots

gressSimilar

Both mean 'to go/step,' from different Latin verbs. it (īre) is the plainer, more invisible 'go' hiding inside exit, transit, initiate. gress/grad (gradi) stresses the physical act of stepping in a direction: progress, regress, transgress. Near-twins: transit (it, 'go across') vs transgress (gress, 'step across'). Quick test: a short hidden -it- inside the word → it; a visible -gress/-grad → gress.

vadSimilar

vad/vas (vadere) also means 'to go, to walk,' but with a sense of going forcefully or rushing: invade (go in against), evade (go out and away), pervade. it is the neutral, everyday 'go'; vad is going with intent or aggression. Compare exit (it, simply going out) with evade (vad, going out to escape).

venSimilar

ven/vent (venire) means 'to come' — the opposite direction of going. it covers leaving/passing (exit, transit), ven covers arriving/coming together (convene, event, prevent). They pair up neatly: where it walks out or across, ven comes in or together.