Etymograph

English

extinct

Extinct comes from Latin extīnctus ‘extinguished, quenched’, and goes back to Proto-Indo-European *stengʷ- ‘to push’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*stengʷ-1‘to push’reconstructed
  2. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEstinguō1‘to extinguish, put out, quench’
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEexstinguō1‘to extinguish, put out, quench’next step skipped: Latin extinguō
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEextīnctus1‘extinguished, quenched’
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500extinct1‘eliminated, eradicated, extinguished’
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1611extinct1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English extinct
  2. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1611, The Holy Bible, London: […] Robert Barker: “My breath is corrupt, my dayes are extinct, the…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*stengʷ-Wiktionary, English extinct‘to push’reconstructed
  2. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEstinguōWiktionary, English extinct‘to extinguish, put out, quench’
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEexstinguōWiktionary, English extinct‘to extinguish, put out, quench’next step skipped: Latin extinguō
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEextīnctusWiktionary, English extinct‘extinguished, quenched’
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500extinctWiktionary, English extinct‘eliminated, eradicated, extinguished’
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1611extinctWiktionary, English extinct. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1611, The Holy Bible, London: […] Robert Barker: “My breath is corrupt, my dayes are extinct, the…”

The story

From Late Middle English extinct (‘eliminated, eradicated, extinguished’), from Latin extīnctus, exstīnctus (‘extinguished, quenched; destroyed, killed; made extinct’), the perfect passive participles of extinguō, exstinguō (‘to extinguish, put out, quench; (figurative) to abolish; to destroy, kill’), from ex- (prefix meaning ‘away; out’) + stinguō (‘to extinguish, put out, quench’) (from Proto-Indo-European *stengʷ- (‘to push’)). The Middle English word displaced Middle English aqueint, aquenched (‘extinct; extinguished’).

Full etymology on Wiktionary

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *stengʷ- ‘to push’

stink, stench, 7 more

through Latin stinguō ‘to extinguish, put out, quench’

distinction, instinct, 6 more

Today it means

adj Of fire, etc.: no longer alight; of a light, etc.: no longer shining; extinguished, quenched.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “extinct”. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.

Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *stengʷ- / extinct

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