# Etymology: How did "express" come to mean "fast"? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 26, 2006, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/etymology-how-did-express-come-to-mean-fast/385641 "2006-12-26T18:04:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Schnitte](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/schnitte/32/9033_2.png) [@Schnitte](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Schnitte)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2006, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/etymology-how-did-express-come-to-mean-fast/385641/1 "2006-12-26T18:04:43Z")
You all know express trains, express mail, express elevators, etc. Etymologically, the word derives from Latin _exprimere_, the past participle of which is _expressus_. This verb has pretty much the same meaning as its English descendant, to express: To convey a certain meaning. How did this verb adopt the meaning of speed? And, speaking of it, how does the Italian coffee espresso, which must have something to do with this root as well, come in? ---
**Author:** ![Sapo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ec9cab/32.png) [@Sapo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sapo)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2006, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/etymology-how-did-express-come-to-mean-fast/385641/2 "2006-12-26T18:17:45Z")
I will let the linguists answer this but the family of words that come from exprimere in spanish, mean to squeeze. I can see where that would lead to coffee. To hurrying, it would be a little more of a stretch but not impossibly so. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2006, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/etymology-how-did-express-come-to-mean-fast/385641/3 "2006-12-26T18:26:51Z")
My WAG would be that it originally referred to trains which had only one “expressed” destintion, meaning that it wouldn’t make any extra stops along the way, meaning it would get there faste. ---
**Author:** ![daffyduck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ec9cab/32.png) [@daffyduck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/daffyduck)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2006, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/etymology-how-did-express-come-to-mean-fast/385641/4 "2006-12-26T18:30:29Z")
**Diogenes the Cynic** has it right. Here is the listing at [The Etymology Online Dictionary](http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?search=express&searchmode=none) ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2006, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/etymology-how-did-express-come-to-mean-fast/385641/5 "2006-12-26T18:33:49Z")
Note also that “express” train doesn’t necessarily mean a train that travels faster than usual; it just means fewer stops than usual. We have express buses in L.A. and believe me, they are anything but fast. ---
**Author:** ![AskNott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asknott/32/5790_2.png) [@AskNott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AskNott)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2006, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/etymology-how-did-express-come-to-mean-fast/385641/6 "2006-12-26T21:04:16Z")
Dogs have anal glands near the anus, which “express” smelly fluid to mark the spot where the dung is left. My dog’s glands got plugged up, and the vet showed me how to “express” the stinky brown stuff, which squirted across the room onto a cabinet. :eek: Picturing that along with an image of Madonna singing _Express Yourself_ brings an involuntary shudder. :eek: ---
**Author:** ![ouryL](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ouryl/32/6067_2.png) [@ouryL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ouryL)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2006, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/etymology-how-did-express-come-to-mean-fast/385641/7 "2006-12-26T22:54:47Z")
I just took an express elevator last night to the top of a so-called ritzy restaurant. It only went to the top floor between the hours of 5 to 10pm- the hours of the restaurant. 😃 The food was ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Full\_Metal\_Lotus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/df705f/32.png) [@Full\_Metal\_Lotus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Full_Metal_Lotus)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2006, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/etymology-how-did-express-come-to-mean-fast/385641/8 "2006-12-27T00:00:14Z")
Espresso coffee has nothing to do with “express”, except a similarity in spelling. Its meaning relates to the fact that the coffee is made by exposing finely ground coffee to steam pressure. regards FML ---
**Author:** ![Sapo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ec9cab/32.png) [@Sapo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sapo)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2006, 1:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/etymology-how-did-express-come-to-mean-fast/385641/9 "2006-12-27T01:24:11Z")
[QUOTE=Full Metal Lotus] Espresso coffee has nothing to do with “express”, except a similarity in spelling. Its meaning relates to the fact that the coffee is made by exposing finely ground coffee to steam pressure. regards FML [/QUOTE] Are you sure it doesn’t have anything to do with “pressing it” as it is pressed through the grounds as opposed to just letting it percolate? ---
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2006, 3:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/etymology-how-did-express-come-to-mean-fast/385641/10 "2006-12-27T03:06:03Z")
[QUOTE=Sapo] Are you sure it doesn’t have anything to do with “pressing it” as it is pressed through the grounds as opposed to just letting it percolate? [/QUOTE] Yes; that’s the similarity between the two words: the “press” part. ---
**Author:** ![Xema](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/9de053/32.png) [@Xema](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Xema)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2006, 5:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/etymology-how-did-express-come-to-mean-fast/385641/11 "2006-12-27T05:25:39Z")
[QUOTE=Diogenes the Cynic] My WAG would be that it originally referred to trains which had only one “expressed” destintion… [/QUOTE] I believe that in 18th century England (i.e. well before trains) this term was used for the service of rapidly delivering an individual letter directly to the addressee for a premium price. It’s the same sense of the word as in “Pony Express”, though of course that service came much later. ---
**Author:** ![Frylock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ce7236/32.png) [@Frylock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frylock)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2006, 5:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/etymology-how-did-express-come-to-mean-fast/385641/12 "2006-12-27T05:27:42Z")
[QUOTE=Full Metal Lotus] Espresso coffee has nothing to do with “express”, except a similarity in spelling. Its meaning relates to the fact that the coffee is made by exposing finely ground coffee to steam pressure. regards FML [/QUOTE] That’s an interesting bit of trivia. Have you got a cite? -FrL- ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2006, 5:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/etymology-how-did-express-come-to-mean-fast/385641/13 "2006-12-27T05:34:42Z")
The OED says > [@](#): > > 1524 WOLSEY in St. Papers Hen. VIII (1849) VI. 317, I receyvid new letters from you, sent by an expresse curror. 1619 VISCT. DONCASTER in Eng. & Germ. (Camden) 137 Send..with all possible speede by an expresse messenger. ---
**Author:** ![hawthorne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c89c15/32.png) [@hawthorne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hawthorne)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2006, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/etymology-how-did-express-come-to-mean-fast/385641/14 "2006-12-27T13:53:42Z")
_Express messenger_ has left such a trail that a new term is around for the meaning in the OED citations: _missile courier_. Is that common in other places? ---
**Author:** ![Schnitte](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/schnitte/32/9033_2.png) [@Schnitte](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Schnitte)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2006, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/etymology-how-did-express-come-to-mean-fast/385641/15 "2006-12-27T14:55:22Z")
[QUOTE=lissener] Yes; that’s the similarity between the two words: the “press” part. [/QUOTE] But what about the _es-_ prefix? If it’s derived from Latin _ex-_, meaning out, then “espresso” comes entirely from the same roots as “express.”