Etymograph

English

strange

Strange comes from Middle English straunge ‘foreign’, from Old French estrange ‘foreign’, from Latin extrāneus ‘foreign’, from extrā ‘outside’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*h₁eǵʰsteros1reconstructed
  2. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*eksteros1reconstructed
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEexter1‘on the outside; foreign’
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEextrā1‘on the outside’
  5. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEextrāneus1‘foreign, strange’
  6. Old Frenchc. 842–1400estrange1‘foreign’
  7. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500straunge1‘foreign’
  8. Englishearliest quotation a. 1569strange1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English strange
  2. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: a. 1569, Roger Ascham, Write: “I take goyng thither [to Italy], and liuing there,…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*h₁eǵʰsterosWiktionary, English strangereconstructed
  2. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*eksterosWiktionary, English strangereconstructed
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEexterWiktionary, English strange‘on the outside; foreign’
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEextrāWiktionary, English strange‘on the outside’
  5. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEextrāneusWiktionary, English strange‘foreign, strange’
  6. Old Frenchc. 842–1400estrangeWiktionary, English strange‘foreign’
  7. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500straungeWiktionary, English strange‘foreign’
  8. Englishearliest quotation a. 1569strangeWiktionary, English strange. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: a. 1569, Roger Ascham, Write: “I take goyng thither [to Italy], and liuing there,…”

A compound of *h₁éǵʰ + *h₁éǵʰs ‘out’

Proto-Indo-European *h₁éǵʰ

Proto-Indo-European *h₁éǵʰ

Proto-Indo-European *h₁éǵʰs ‘out’

The story

Largely displaced native fremd, selcouth, and uncouth, from Old English fremede, seldcūþ, and uncūþ.

Full etymology on Wiktionary

Word family

English words that share an ancestor with strange, grouped by the ancestor they share, most familiar first.

through Latin exter ‘on the outside, outward, external, outer, far, remote’

through Latin extrā ‘on the outside’

through Latin extrāneus ‘that which is on the outside’

12 more relatives in the full family tree

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Today it means

adj Not normal; odd, unusual, surprising, out of the ordinary, often with a negative connotation.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “strange”. 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 *h₁eǵʰsteros / strange