extraneous

English

WOTD – 22 November 2007

Etymology

From Latin extrāneus (“from without, strange”), whence also originates (via French) the English adjective strange. Cognate with Spanish extraño.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ɛkˈstɹeɪ.ni.əs/
• (General Australian) IPA^(key): /ekˈstɹæɪ.ni.əs/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ɪkˈstɹeɪ.ni.əs/, /ɛkˈstɹeɪ.ni.əs/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -eɪniəs

Adjective

extraneous (not comparable)

1. Not belonging to, or dependent upon, a thing; without or beyond a thing; foreign

   to separate gold from extraneous matter

   Extraneous substances were found on my cup of water.

2. Not essential or intrinsic

Synonyms

• (not belonging to): additional, alien, foreign, intrusive; See also Thesaurus:foreign
• (not essential): superfluous, extra; See also Thesaurus:extrinsic

Derived terms

• extraneously
• extraneousness

Translations

not belonging to, or dependent upon, a thing

• Arabic: خَارِجِيّ‎ (ar) (ḵārijiyy)
• Bulgarian: въ̀ншен (bg) (vǎ̀nšen), чужд (bg) (čužd)
• Finnish: asiaankuulumaton (fi)
• French: étranger (fr)
• German: fremd (de)
• Hungarian: idegen (hu)

• Ido: stranjera (io)
• Portuguese: estranho (pt)
• Russian: посторо́нний (ru) (postorónnij), вне́шний (ru) (vnéšnij), чу́ждый (ru) (čúždyj)
• Serbo-Croatian: stran (sh), nepripadajući
• Spanish: extraño (es)
• Swedish: främmande (sv), ovidkommande (sv), yttre (sv)