From Latin 'exemplum' (something taken out) — a specimen removed to represent a group. Doublet of 'sample.'
A thing characteristic of its kind or illustrating a general rule, or a person or thing regarded as a model to be imitated or avoided.
From Latin exemplum (a sample, a pattern to be followed, a precedent, a copy taken out), from eximere (to take out, to remove, to exempt), from ex- (out) + emere (to buy, to take, to obtain), from PIE *h1em- (to take, to grasp). The same root gives English redeem, premium, and prompt. An exemplum was literally something taken out from the whole — a sample extracted to represent its class. The word entered Old French as exemple and arrived in Middle English by the 14th century. Example and sample are doublets: both trace to Latin exemplum
An 'example' is literally 'something taken out' — from Latin 'eximere' (to take out). The related word 'exempt' comes from the same verb: an exempt person has been 'taken out' of a group that must follow a rule. And 'sample' is actually a doublet of 'example' — the same Latin 'exemplum' produced both words, one through Norman French ('example') and one through a more popular spoken route ('sample,' from Old French 'essample' with the initial syllable dropped).