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export

/ɪkˈspɔːrt//ɪkˈspɔːt/·verb, noun
to send goods or data out to be sold or used elsewhere
Fig. 1 — On a single turning globe, a home port loads its cargo and sends it climbing along a route that bends right over the curve of the world.
01Definition

To export is to carry something out — classically goods sent across a border to be sold abroad, the mirror image of import. The Latin roots are literal: ex- 'out' and portare 'to carry'. A nation that exports more than it buys earns foreign revenue and strengthens its trade balance. The verb has long outgrown shipping, though: software exports a file to another format, and a culture exports its music and ideas. Note the stress shift — the verb is exPORT, the noun EXport.

02In use
  • iGermany exports more cars than almost any other nation in Europe.
  • iiMost of the country's oil is exported, much of it sitting in transit at a single port.
  • iiiYou can export the spreadsheet as a PDF before you share it.
03Collocations
  • export goods
  • export market
  • a net exporter
  • export ban
  • export revenue

Family export (noun) · exporter (noun) · exportation (noun)

04Relations

=ship, sell abroad, dispatch, transport, send overseas

≠import

06TOEFL & IELTS

Core economics vocabulary and a staple of IELTS Task 1, where charts track export figures over time. Master the noun phrases — 'a net exporter', 'export market', 'export revenue' — and the verb–noun stress shift, a classic pronunciation trap (exPORT the goods / our EXports rose). Always contrast it with its pair, import, when describing trade balance.

07Asked
How do you pronounce export — the noun and the verb?
The stress shifts with the part of speech. The noun is EX-port, stress up front ('our EXports rose'). The verb is ex-PORT, stress on the second syllable ('they exPORT the goods'). English has a whole family of these noun-front/verb-back pairs — import, record, permit, conduct — where the stress alone tells you the grammar.
What is the difference between export and import?
Export is to send goods out of a country to be sold abroad; import is to bring them in from abroad. The Latin is literal: ex- 'out' and portare 'to carry', versus im- 'in'. A country that exports more than it imports runs a trade surplus. The scene above is the export half — cargo sent out along the route, value returning home.
What is a net exporter?
A country that exports more of something than it imports — 'a net exporter of oil' sells more abroad than it buys in. The 'net' means after subtracting imports. Its opposite is a net importer. The phrase, along with 'export revenue' and 'export market', is core vocabulary for the trade charts in IELTS Task 1.
What does 'export' mean in computing?
To save data out of one program into a format another can read — 'export the spreadsheet as a CSV', 'export the file to PDF'. Its opposite is import, bringing data in. The word kept its core sense of carrying something out across a boundary; the boundary is now between software rather than between countries.
What is the difference between 'export' and 'exportation'?
Export as a noun means the goods themselves ('oil is our main export') or, loosely, the activity. Exportation is the formal name for the act or process of exporting ('the exportation of restricted technology'). Everyday and business English almost always use export for both; exportation survives mainly in legal and technical writing.
Is export a noun or a verb?
Both — and the stress marks which. As a verb (ex-PORT) it is the act of sending goods out; as a noun (EX-port) it is the goods sent, or the trade in them. The related nouns split the work further: an exporter is the seller, exportation the formal process. Context and stress together keep them straight.