Origin: Latin prefix inter-
Interchange has 10 different meanings across 2 categories:
a junction of highways on different levels that permits traffic to move from one to another without crossing traffic streams
"The new interchange connects the two major freeways, allowing cars to switch lanes safely above and below ground."
mutual interaction; the activity of reciprocating or exchanging (especially information)
"The students engaged in a lively interchange of ideas during the seminar."
the act of changing one thing for another thing
"Adam was promised immortality in exchange for his disobedience"
"there was an interchange of prisoners"
reciprocal transfer of equivalent sums of money (especially the currencies of different countries)
"he earns his living from the interchange of currency"
An act of interchanging.
"The interchange of ideas during the meeting led to several new solutions."
put in the place of another; switch seemingly equivalent items
"the con artist replaced the original with a fake Rembrandt"
"substitute regular milk for fat-free milk"
"synonyms can be interchanged without a changing the context's meaning"
give to, and receive from, one another
"Would you change places with me?"
"We have been exchanging letters for a year"
cause to change places
"interchange this screw for one of a smaller size"
to switch (each of two things)
"The driver had to slowly interchange lanes when merging onto the highway."
In plain English: To interchange something means to swap it with another item.
"You can interchange these two colors on your shirt if you don't like blue."
The word interchange comes from Old French entrechange, which was formed by combining the prefix entre- with change. It entered English through this direct borrowing rather than being constructed later from separate English parts.