strange

A2 Topic:Describing Qualities

US /stɹeɪnd͡ʒ/ See IPA manual

Freq #723

Meanings

1

adj
Unusual or surprising in a way that is hard to understand.

He thought it strange that the lights were on in an empty house.
2

adj
Not known to you before; unfamiliar.

I felt nervous walking through a strange town at night.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

2 adj · not known to you before;... unfamiliar unknown

More aberrant abnormal alien anomalous bizarre booky curious deviant discrepant eerie eldritch errant

Opposites

common familiar inevitable intermediate moderate normal

Word family

Forms strangest

Derived forms bestrangemultistrangenonstrangesstrangestrange-assstrangeletstrangelingstrangelystrangenstrangenessstrangeonstrangeonium

Related forms crooked estrange estranged outlier stranger

Appears in

Phrases (2)

See all

Proverbs (1)

See all

Politics makes strange bedfellows

Simplified etymology

Strange is a shortened form of Old French estrange, which came from Latin extraneus, meaning “external” or “strange.” The related word stranger follows the same historical line.

Etymology

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *h₁éǵʰ Proto-Indo-European *-s Proto-Indo-European *h₁éǵʰs Proto-Indo-European *-teros Proto-Indo-European *h₁eǵʰsteros Proto-Italic *eksteros Latin exter Latin extrā Proto-Indo-European *-nós Proto-Italic *-nos Latin -nus Latin -ānus Proto-Italic *-eos Latin -eus Latin -āneus Latin extrāneusder. Old French estrange Anglo-Norman estraungebor. Middle English straunge English strange From Middle English straunge, strange, stronge, from Old French estrange, from Latin extrāneus (“that which is on the outside”). Doublet of extraneous and estrange. Cognate with Fr…

straunge Middle English estrange Old French extrāneus Latin

View etymology graph ->

Topics

Describing Qualities

External links

# strange

**Type:** Word
**Level:** A2
**Part of speech:** adj
**IPA (US):** /stɹeɪnd͡ʒ/
**Frequency rank:** 723

## Meanings
1. Unusual or surprising in a way that is hard to understand.
2. Not known to you before; unfamiliar.

## Examples
- He thought it strange that the lights were on in an empty house.
- I felt nervous walking through a strange town at night.

## Synonyms
- aberrant
- abnormal
- alien
- anomalous
- bizarre
- booky
- curious
- deviant
- discrepant
- eerie
- eldritch
- errant

## Antonyms
- common
- familiar
- inevitable
- intermediate
- moderate
- normal

## Derived Forms
- bestrange
- multistrange
- nonstrange
- sstrange
- strange-ass
- strangelet
- strangeling
- strangely
- strangen
- strangeness
- strangeon
- strangeonium

## Related Forms
- crooked
- estrange
- estranged
- outlier
- stranger

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: straunge
- Root: estrange
- Root: extrāneus

## Etymology
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *h₁éǵʰ Proto-Indo-European *-s Proto-Indo-European *h₁éǵʰs Proto-Indo-European *-teros Proto-Indo-European *h₁eǵʰsteros Proto-Italic *eksteros Latin exter Latin extrā Proto-Indo-European *-nós Proto-Italic *-nos Latin -nus Latin -ānus Proto-Italic *-eos Latin -eus Latin -āneus Latin extrāneusder. Old French estrange Anglo-Norman estraungebor. Middle English straunge English strange From Middle English straunge, strange, stronge, from Old French estrange, from Latin extrāneus (“that which is on the outside”). Doublet of extraneous and estrange. Cognate with Fr…

## AI Etymology
Strange is from Middle English straunge, strange, stronge, from Old French estrange, from Latin extrāneus (“that which is on the outside”). Doublet of extraneous and estrange. In present-day use, it can mean unusual or surprising in a way that is hard to understand, or not known to you before; unfamiliar. Derived formations include bestrange, multistrange, nonstrange, sstrange, strange-ass.

## Topics
- Describing Qualities

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