extant

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin exstāns (“standing out”), also extāns, the present participle of exstō (“to stand out, be prominent, be visible, exist”),^{[2][3][4][5][6]} formed from ex- (“out”) and stō (“to stand”),^[2][5][3][4] from Proto-Indo-European *stā- (“to stand”).^[3][5] The OED compares French extant.^[2] The Latin verb is related to exist, and its root to stand.^[4][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Standing out above a surface; projecting: 1540, in R. Jonas's translation of E. Roesslin's Byrth of Mankynde.^[2][5] Barnhart and Merriam-Webster date the word to 1545,^[4][7] and Dictionary.com to 1535–45.^[8]

Semantic evolution

The word followed the senses of the Latin verb, from "standing out" to "being visible" and "existing".^[2][4] From 1555 to 1638 it meant publicly available or accessible, a sense now obsolete;^[2][9] from 1566 it also meant conspicuous or manifest, now rare.^[2] The sense "in existence" appears in 1561, in T. Norton's translation of Calvin's Institution,^[2][4][5] and was also used of the present time and of a current fashion;^[2][9] the narrower sense "still existing, having survived", above all of documents, follows in 1581.^[2][9] Johnson (1755) still gave "standing out to view" first, with "public; not suppressed" second.^[10] A noun, an extant copy, is recorded in 1592, and the plural for remains before 1658; both are obsolete.^[2] Etymonline notes the 17th-century nouns extance and extancy, both obsolete.^[5]

Timeline

• 1540 – standing out above a surface, projecting.^[2] Barnhart and Merriam-Webster date it to 1545.^[4][7]
• 1555 – able to be publicly seen, found or obtained (obsolete by 1638).^[2][9]
• 1561 – in existence, existing.^[2][4]
• 1566 – prominent, conspicuous.^[2]
• 1581 – still existing, having survived.^[2]
• 1592 – noun, an extant copy (obsolete).^[2]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Still in existence; surviving, especially of a document or work: Only two letters from that year are extant.^[11][7][9]
2. (archaic) Standing out from a surface; protruding.^{[11][7][2][9]}
3. (archaic) Clearly seen; conspicuous or evident.^[7][2]
4. (obsolete, 1555–1638) Publicly available; accessible.^[2][9]

Word family

• nonextant

Related words

• exist
• instant
• stand
• extent

Usage notes

Collins warns against using extant simply to say that something exists, without the idea of surviving: a deadly element is "in existence", not "extant".^[11]

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
4. ^ a b c d e f g h Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
5. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
8. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
9. ^ a b c d e f g Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
10. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
11. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins