extremity

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English extremite,^[2][3] borrowed from Old French extremite, also estremite,^[4][5][6][7] from Latin extrēmitās (“the end of a thing”),^[8][4][7] from extrēmus (“outermost, utmost”),^[8][4][3] the superlative of exterus, the source of exterior.^[4] The OED and Merriam-Webster give the immediate source as French, Middle French in Merriam-Webster,^[8][3] and the Oxford Dictionary of English and the Shorter Oxford allow for a direct borrowing from Latin as well.^[6][5] The Anglo-Norman form is recorded from the second quarter of the 13th century, already of the furthest end of an object and of a person's fingers and toes or an animal's claws and paws.^[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

The very end or last part of something: before 1400, in a Middle English version of Lanfranc's surgery, þe extremytees of beestis feet,^[2] and about 1400 in the OED.^[8] Etymonline puts a first use, for the two things at the far ends of a scale, in the late 14th century;^[4] the OED has that sense about 1400, in the Romaunt of the Rose.^[8]

Semantic evolution

Etymonline notes that the etymological sense of extreme, "outermost", is better kept in this noun than in the adjective.^[4] Klein reports that the Latin word was first used of hands and feet by the translator Gerard of Cremona, who died in 1187,^[7] and the English word had this sense by the early 15th century.^[2][4] From the idea of the farthest point it passed to the farthest point of a condition: extreme need or adversity from about 1425, in Hoccleve,^[8] and the very last moments of life from 1602, in W. Warner, a use now archaic.^[8][5] In the 16th century it also meant violent passion, extravagance and severity, all now obsolete.^[8] The plural for an extreme measure, as in Massinger in 1639, is now chiefly archaic.^[8][10] Johnson (1755) put "the utmost point; the highest degree" first.^[11] In north Yorkshire dialect, to be in an extremity was to be at the limit of what one could endure.^[12]

Timeline

• before 1400 – the very end or last part of something; in the plural, the ends of the feet of animals.^[2]
• c. 1400 – the two things at opposite ends of a scale, as opposed to the mean (obsolete after 1598).^[8]
• c. 1425 – a condition of extreme need or adversity.^[8]
• before 1475 – plural, the hands and feet.^[8]
• 1509 – extreme intensity of passion or action; a violent outburst (obsolete after 1669).^[8]
• before 1533 – extravagance in opinion or behaviour (obsolete after 1712).^[8]
• 1543 – the utmost degree.^[8] Etymonline dates the meaning "highest degree" to the early 15th century.^[4]
• 1574 – extreme severity or rigour (obsolete after 1639).^[8]
• 1602 – a person's last moments.^[8]
• 1639 – an extreme measure.^[8]
• 1691 – severity of weather (obsolete after 1826).^[8]
• 1849 – the quality of being extreme.^[13]

Meanings

Noun

1. The farthest or outermost point or part of something; the very end: the northern extremity of the island.^[10][3][8]
2. A limb or other appendage; especially, in the plural, the hands and feet: poor circulation in the extremities.^[10][3][8]
3. A condition of extreme need, danger or adversity: She turned to her brother in her extremity.^[10][3][8]
4. The greatest or most intense degree of something.^[10][8][5]
5. (archaic, usually plural) A drastic or severe measure.^[10][8][5]
6. (archaic) A person's last moments; the point of death.^[3][8][5]
7. (obsolete, c. 1400–1598) The two things at opposite ends of a scale, as opposed to the mean.^[8][5]
8. (obsolete, 1533–1712) Extravagance in opinion, behaviour or spending.^[8][5]
9. (obsolete, 1574–1639) Extreme severity or rigour.^[8][5]

Related words

• extreme
• extremely
• extremism
• extremist
• exterior

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
3. ^ a b c d e f g Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ a b c d e f g h Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b c Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
8. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z 27 28 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
10. ^ a b c d e f Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
11. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
12. ^ Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)
13. ^ Kay, Christian; Roberts, Jane; Samuels, Michael; Wotherspoon, Irené, eds. (2009), Historical Thesaurus of the Oxford English Dictionary, Oxford: Oxford University Press; online edition (2024)