Quick Facts
Latin:
“warp laid on a loom before the web is begun” or “starting point,”
Plural:
exordiums or exordia
Related Topics:
rhetoric
Britannica AI Icon
Adding us as a Preferred Source tells Google you trust our content, so our articles show up more often in your Google Search, Discover feed, and AI Overviews.
verifiedCite
While every effort has been made to follow citation style rules, there may be some discrepancies. Please refer to the appropriate style manual or other sources if you have any questions.
Select Citation Style
Feedback
Corrections? Updates? Omissions? Let us know if you have suggestions to improve this article (requires login).
Thank you for your feedback

Our editors will review what you’ve submitted and determine whether to revise the article.

External Websites

exordium, in literature, the beginning or introduction, especially the introductory part of a discourse or composition. The term originally referred specifically to one of the traditional divisions of a speech established by classical rhetoricians.