Exportation

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. The action of transporting commodities across national boundaries for trade purposes is vital for global commerce
2. The process of shipping products from one country to another for commercial exchange
3. The activity involving the movement of goods out of a country to international markets

Etymology: "Exportation" is a plain formation: the verb "export" with the suffix "-ation" added to it. The suffix has a long ancestry of its own, passing from Proto-Indo-European through Proto-Italic and Latin, where "-ātiō" formed nouns of action from verbs. It came into English through Old French "-ation" and Middle English "-aciou(n)", and in English it has become the ordinary way to turn a verb into a noun for the act or process of doing that verb. The verb "export" is the base here, and the suffix does the work of turning an action into a thing you can name. So "exportation" is simply the act of exporting, which is why it means sending goods abroad. Because the suffix is so productive, English speakers have built countless similar nouns from verbs, such as "creation" and "information," which follow the same pattern.

Synonyms: export, shipping, transportation, dispatch, transfer