elmeti

Built, not borrowed. El plus meti: to put out. That is the whole word, and you could have made it yourself. It earns a page anyway because the compound has settled into a small set of fixed uses that are worth knowing, rather than being reinvented from the parts each time.

The three senses, in the order you will meet them. First, to put on display: elmeti varojn, to set goods out; ekspozicio is the noun for the resulting exhibition, and elmetaĵo is an exhibit. Second, to expose to something harmful: elmeti sin al danĝero, to expose oneself to danger, elmetita al la suno, left out in the sun. Third, and more formally, to set out an argument: elmeti sian opinion, to lay out one's view.

Not the same as montri. Montri is to show - it needs somebody to show it to. Elmeti is to place something where it can be seen, and nobody need be watching. A shop elmetas its hats in the morning and montras one to a customer in the afternoon.

The el- family. Once you have this one, elpreni (to take out), eliri (to go out), elverŝi (to pour out) and eldoni (to give out, and so to publish) all read straight off the page. Eldoni is the one to notice: it is built exactly like elmeti and it has drifted furthest from the sum of its parts.