Etymology Explorer › English

Where does “strange” come from?

Strange comes from Middle English strange, from Old French estrange, from Latin extraneus meaning "foreign," derived from Latin extra meaning "outside" plus the suffix -anus.

strange (English): Not normal; odd, unusual, surprising, out of the...

Definitions

  1. Not normal; odd, unusual, surprising, out of the...

Ancestry of “strange”, step by step

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Latinextrāneus—
2Latin-āneus—
3Latin-eusargentum + API → argenteus; ferrum + API →...
4Proto-Italic*-eos—

Words derived from “strange”

  • stranger
  • strangely
  • strangeness
  • nonstranger
  • strangelet
  • unstrange
  • nonstrange
  • strangeling
  • strangerlike
  • multistrange
  • strangerly
  • strange-ass
  • sstrange
  • bestrange
  • bestranged
  • cyberstranger
  • bestrangement
  • bestranging
  • multistrangeness
Every word from Proto-Italic *-eos →