# adventitious

> English word · Adjective · IPA /ˌæd.vənˈtɪʃ.əs/ · frequency rank #98,938

## Definitions
1. From an external source; not innate or inherent, foreign.
2. Accidental, additional, appearing casually.
3. Not congenital; acquired.
4. Developing in an unusual place or from an unusual source.

## Etymology
From Medieval Latin adventītius (“coming from abroad, extraneous”), a corruption of Latin adventīcius (“foreign, strange, accidental”), from adventus (“arrival, coming, approach, advent”) + -īcius (suffix forming adjectives), from adveniō (“to arrive”) + -tus (suffix forming action nouns).

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/adventitious