strange (English)

Where does "strange" come from?

The word 'strange' traces its roots back to the Latin word 'extrāneus,' meaning 'that which is on the outside.' As it passed through Old French as 'estrange' and into Middle English as 'straunge,' its meaning shifted from simply describing something foreign or external to encompassing the modern sense of the unfamiliar or unusual. Along the way, it largely displaced native English terms like 'fremd' and 'uncouth' to become our standard descriptor for the peculiar.

Full etymology tree

strange (English), 'Not normal; odd, unusual, surprising, out of the ordinary, often with a negative connotation.'
- inherited straunge (Middle English), 'foreign; overseas'
  - borrowed estraunge (Anglo-Norman)
    - inherited estrange (Old French), 'foreign; overseas'
      - inherited extrāneus (Latin), 'foreign'
        compound extrā (Latin), 'on the outside'
        derived exter (Latin), 'on the outside, outward, external, outer, far, remote'
        inherited *eksteros (Proto-Italic)
        inherited *h₁eǵʰsteros (Proto-Indo-European)
        compound *h₁eǵʰs (Proto-Indo-European)
        compound -āneus (Latin), 'Of or pertaining to; -aneous (usually indicates a relationship of position or origin).'
        compound -ānus (Latin), 'Of or pertaining to; -ian; usually indicates a relationship of origin, position, or possession.'
        compound -eus (Latin), 'Used to form adjectives from nouns, and so to nominally indicate the source of an attribute.'
        inherited *-eos (Proto-Italic), 'Forms adjectives indicating being formed out of a material.'
        compound *-e- (Proto-Indo-European)
        compound *-yós (Proto-Indo-European), 'Creates adjectives from noun stems.'

Direct ancestors

Updated June 2026

Etymology data from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · About Miraris