Astray

How to spell astray

6 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce astray

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does astray mean?

1. adverbAway from the correct path, place, or course of action; into error or loss.

Astray in a sentence

• The parcel went astray somewhere in the postal system.

• A single bad influence can lead a teenager astray.

Where does astray come from?

Language of origin: French

This word entered Middle English in the 1300s from the Old French past participle estraié, meaning 'wandered off' or 'roamed away', which came from the verb estraier 'to stray or roam loose'. Behind that lies the Vulgar Latin form extravagare, built from extra 'outside' and vagari 'to wander', so the literal sense was to wander outside the proper bounds. The initial 'a-' is a worn-down survival of that Latin ex-, the same 'out' element you can still see clearly in the related word 'extravagant', which originally described something that wandered beyond reasonable limits. English speakers fused the pieces into a single adverb meaning off the correct path, whether a lost sheep or a misdirected letter. Knowing that 'stray' is the recognisable English word hiding inside it helps with the spelling: it is simply 'a' plus 'stray', never 'astrey' or 'estray'.

How the word is built

• a- (variant of Old French es-, from Latin ex-: out, away)
• stray (to wander, from Latin vagari: to roam)