The Spanish éxito (“success”) comes from the Latin exitus (“an exit”) — from which we get the English… (surprise, surprise) exit.
But how are “exits” — like the sign you see to leave a building in an emergency! — and “successes” related?
Well, remember that investors and company founders often call a successful sale of a company, an “exit.” It’s leaving… but on a high note.
What is noteworthy is that, over the centuries, in Spanish, the notion of “leaving” has taken on such a positive connotation, that the word for exiting became the word for success!
Suggested by: Paul Murphy
