Etymograph

English

extreme

Extreme comes from Old French extreme, from Latin extrēmus ‘farthest, outermost’, superlative of exter ‘outer’.

  1. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*eksterisemos1reconstructed
  2. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEextrēmus2‘farthest’
  3. Old Frenchc. 842–1400extreme2
  4. Englishearliest quotation c. 1587–1588extreme2

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, Latin extremus
  2. 2 Wiktionary, English extreme
  3. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: c. 1587–1588, Christopher Marlowe, Tamburlaine the Great. […] The First Part […]: “a farther paſſion feeds my thoughts, With ceaſeleſſe and…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*eksterisemosWiktionary, Latin extremusreconstructed
  2. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEextrēmusWiktionary, English extreme‘farthest’
  3. Old Frenchc. 842–1400extremeWiktionary, English extreme
  4. Englishearliest quotation c. 1587–1588extremeWiktionary, English extreme. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: c. 1587–1588, Christopher Marlowe, Tamburlaine the Great. […] The First Part […]: “a farther paſſion feeds my thoughts, With ceaſeleſſe and…”

Every English word from Proto-Italic *eksterisemos

Today it means

adj Of a place, the most remote, farthest or outermost.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “extreme”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entry for Latin extremus. 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-Italic *eksterisemos / extreme

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