Estranged

How to spell estranged

9 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce estranged

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does estranged mean?

1. adjectiveNo longer close to or on friendly terms with someone, especially a family member or spouse.
2. verbCaused someone to become hostile or indifferent, especially within a close relationship.

Estranged in a sentence

• adjective

  He had not spoken to his estranged brother in nearly a decade.

• verb

  His constant criticism slowly estranged him from his children.

• adjective

  The will left a small sum to his estranged wife.

• verb

  The bitter inheritance dispute estranged the once-close cousins.

Where does estranged come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word traces back to the Latin extraneus, meaning 'external, foreign, or belonging to the outside', the same root that gave us 'strange' and 'extraneous'. From extraneus, Latin formed the verb extraneare, 'to treat as a stranger or push away'. The word travelled into Old French as estranger, where the 'ex-' shrank to the leaner 'es-' that explains the spelling we use today. English adopted it in the 1400s, first meaning to make someone a stranger by removing affection or loyalty, and the modern sense of being no longer close to a relative or partner grew directly from that. Knowing the hidden 'strange' inside the word is a useful anchor: it is e + strange + d, not 'extranged' as the Latin ex- might tempt you to write.

How the word is built

• e- (from Latin ex-, out, away)
• strang (from extraneus, foreign, outside)
• -ed (past participle/adjective suffix)