Extinction

How to spell extinction

10 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce extinction

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does extinction mean?

1. nounThe complete disappearance of a species or group, so that none remain alive.
2. nounThe act of putting an end to something completely, such as a fire, a debt, or a right.

Extinction in a sentence

• The report warned that habitat loss is driving many frogs toward extinction.

• The lawyer explained the extinction of the lease once the term expired.

• Conservation funding aims to save the rhino from extinction.

• Firefighters worked through the night to ensure the complete extinction of the blaze.

Where does extinction come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word descends from the Latin extinctionem, a noun built on the verb extinguere, which meant 'to put out' or 'to quench', as in dousing a fire or a flame. That verb joins ex-, meaning 'out', with stinguere, meaning 'to quench', and the same root surfaces in the everyday word 'extinguish'. English took it up in the early 1400s, at first for the literal snuffing out of fire and light, and later for the broader idea of something being wiped out completely. By the 1700s naturalists were using it for the dying out of whole species, which is now its most familiar sense. The 'ct' cluster in the middle, where the original 'g' of extinguere hardened, is the spot writers most often trip over, since the spoken word offers little clue to that sequence.

How the word is built

• ex- (out)
• stinct (from Latin stinguere, to quench or extinguish)
• -ion (noun of action)