English
extraneous
Extraneous comes from Latin extrāneus ‘from without, strange’, from extrā ‘outside’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *bʰer- ‘to bear, carry’.
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*bʰer-1‘to bear, carry’reconstructed
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*bʰéreti2‘to bear, carry’reconstructed
- Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*ferō2‘to carry, bear’reconstructed
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEferō3‘to bear, carry, bring’
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEauferō4‘to take away’
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEablātīvus5as ablativeperfect passive participle of auferō
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEextrā6‘outside’
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEextrāneus7‘from without, strange’
- Englishearliest quotation 1831extraneous7
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
- 1 Wiktionary, Proto-Indo-European *bʰéreti
- 2 Wiktionary, Latin fero
- 3 Wiktionary, Latin aufero
- 4 Wiktionary, Latin ablativus
- 5 Wiktionary, Latin extra
- 6 Wiktionary, Latin extraneus
- 7 Wiktionary, English extraneous
- Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1831, Letitia Elizabeth Landon, Romance and Reality. […]: “Edward had seen beauty often, and seen it with…”.
Lineage
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*bʰer-Wiktionary, Proto-Indo-European *bʰéreti‘to bear, carry’reconstructed
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*bʰéretiWiktionary, Latin fero‘to bear, carry’reconstructed
- Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*ferōWiktionary, Latin fero‘to carry, bear’reconstructed
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEferōWiktionary, Latin aufero‘to bear, carry, bring’
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEauferōWiktionary, Latin ablativus‘to take away’
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEablātīvusWiktionary, Latin extraas ablativeperfect passive participle of auferō
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEextrāWiktionary, Latin extraneus‘outside’
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEextrāneusWiktionary, English extraneous‘from without, strange’
- Englishearliest quotation 1831extraneousWiktionary, English extraneous. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1831, Letitia Elizabeth Landon, Romance and Reality. […]: “Edward had seen beauty often, and seen it with…”
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *bʰer- ‘to bear, carry’
bar, birth, prefer, broad, bread, burden, bearing, barrel, fortune, barn, bore, fury, baron, breeze, bark, berth, broom, barrow, embargo, fret, ferret, insufferable, furtive, bier, bahar, proffer, birr, barrette, bairn, burnish, 112 more
through Proto-Indo-European *bʰéreti ‘to bear, carry’
bear, borne, phosphate, euphoria, phosphorus, dysphoria, semaphore, indifferently, phosphine, 90 more
through Proto-Italic *ferō ‘to carry, bear’
suffering, differently, differentiation, indifferent, infertility, deference, infertile, differentially, deferential, differentiable, differentiator, 67 more
through Latin ferō ‘to bear, carry, bring’
different, offer, difference, reference, relative, suffer, relation, transfer, relate, differ, translation, referendum, referee, fertility, fertile, translate, defer, confer, infer, fertilization, elated, elation, collation, fertilize, dilate, collate, efferent, oblate, 78 more
through Latin auferō ‘to take away’
through Latin ablātīvus
frustration, infra, frustrate, ablative, 2 more
through Latin extrā ‘outside’
extraordinary, stranger, strangely, extravagant, strangeness, estrange, 2 more
through Latin extrāneus ‘from without, strange’
Today it means
adj Not belonging to, or dependent upon, a thing; without or beyond a thing; foreign.
Sources
Sources: Wiktionary, “extraneous”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entries for Proto-Indo-European *bʰéreti, Latin fero, Latin aufero, Latin ablativus, Latin extra, Latin extraneus. 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 *bʰer- / extraneous