# strange

> English word · Adjective · IPA /stɹeɪnd͡ʒ/ · frequency rank #2,317

## Definitions
1. Not normal; odd, unusual, surprising, out of the ordinary, often with a negative connotation.
2. Unfamiliar, not yet part of one's experience.
3. Outside of one's current relationship; unfamiliar.
4. Having the quantum mechanical property of strangeness.
5. Of an attractor: having a fractal structure.
6. Belonging to another country; foreign.
7. Reserved; distant in deportment.
8. Backward; slow.
9. Not familiar; unaccustomed; inexperienced.
10. Not belonging to one.

## Etymology
From Middle English straunge, strange, stronge, from Old French estrange, from Latin extrāneus (“that which is on the outside”). Doublet of extraneous and estrange. Cognate with French étrange (“strange, foreign”) and Spanish extraño (“strange, foreign”). Largely displaced native fremd, selcouth, and uncouth, from Old English fremede, seldcūþ, and uncūþ.

## Easily confused with
- **strong** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/strange-vs-strong)
- **string** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/strange-vs-string)
- **strung** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/strange-vs-strung)
- **strings** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/strange-vs-strings)
- **syringe** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/strange-vs-syringe)
- **stronger** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/strange-vs-stronger)
- **stranger** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/strange-vs-stranger)
- **strangle** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/strange-vs-strangle)
- **stringer** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/strange-vs-stringer)
- **stringed** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/strange-vs-stringed)
- **strangers** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/strange-vs-strangers)
- **strangely** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/strange-vs-strangely)
- **stage** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/stage-vs-strange)
- **stance** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/stance-vs-strange)
- **strand** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/strand-vs-strange)
- **sprang** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/sprang-vs-strange)
- **storage** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/storage-vs-strange)
- **stranded** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/stranded-vs-strange)

## Common misspellings (11)
`srtange`, `sstrange`, `starnge`, `stragne`, `straneg`, `strangge`, `strannge`, `strnage`, `strrange`, `sttrange`, `tsrange`

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