entry
strange
/streɪndʒ/unfamiliar, unusual, or unexpectedly odd
From Latin extra (outside).
from Latin extraneus "foreign, external
+1 more sourcefrom Old French estrange "foreign, alien, unusual, unfamiliar, curious; distant; inhospitable; estranged, separated"...
+1 more sourcefrom Middle English straunge, strange, stronge
from Old French estrange "foreign, alien, unusual, unfamiliar, curious; distant; inhospitable; estranged, separated"...
+1 more sourceWord Ancestry
from Latin extraneus "foreign, external
+1 more sourcefrom Old French estrange "foreign, alien, unusual, unfamiliar, curious; distant; inhospitable; estranged, separated"...
+1 more sourcefrom Middle English straunge, strange, stronge
from Old French estrange "foreign, alien, unusual, unfamiliar, curious; distant; inhospitable; estranged, separated"...
+1 more sourcePicture a medieval English traveler arriving at a village where nobody knows his name, his clothes look foreign, and the innkeeper is quietly reconsidering the spare room. Around 1300, English speakers called such a person or thing straunge, borrowed from Old French estrange, which came from Latin extrāneus—literally “from outside.” That same outside-looking root survives transparently in extra, while its more formal cousin extraneous still means something added from the outside. English gradually moved from “foreign” to “unfamiliar,” then to “odd” or “surprising”; by the 1660s, Strange! could stand alone as an exclamation of wonder. So when something feels strange, your language is still quietly pointing toward the border: not necessarily bad, just not from inside your familiar world.
The Story
Picture a medieval English traveler arriving at a village where nobody knows his name, his clothes look foreign, and the innkeeper is quietly reconsidering the spare room. Around 1300, English speakers called such a person or thing straunge, borrowed from Old French estrange, which came from Latin extrāneus—literally “from outside.” That same outside-looking root survives transparently in extra, while its more formal cousin extraneous still means something added from the outside. English gradually moved from “foreign” to “unfamiliar,” then to “odd” or “surprising”; by the 1660s, Strange! could stand alone as an exclamation of wonder. So when something feels strange, your language is still quietly pointing toward the border: not necessarily bad, just not from inside your familiar world.
Modern Usage
sex with someone outside one’s current relationship
Notable References
- Urban Dictionary entries for “get some strange”
Kin & Kindred
From 'extra'·outside, beyond, from without
Derived Terms
English words from this root