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Added 9 October 2026

extinct

/ɪkˈstɪŋkt/ adjective

Latin root: extīnctus Wiktionary

adjective Definition from WordNet 3.1, Princeton University. Pronunciation from Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org. More about extinct at Wordnik → Where our words come from →

No longer in existence; lost or especially having died out leaving no living representatives.
an extinct species of fish
(of e.g. volcanos) permanently inactive.
an extinct volcano
Being out or having grown cold.
threw his extinct cigarette into the stream

Origin

From Late Middle English extinct (“eliminated, eradicated, extinguished”), from Latin extīnctus, exstīnctus (“extinguished, quenched; destroyed, killed; made extinct”), the perfect passive participles of extinguō, exstinguō (“to extinguish, put out, quench; (figurative) to abolish; to destroy, kill”), from ex- (prefix meaning ‘away; out’) + stinguō (“to extinguish, put out, quench”) (from Proto-Indo-European *stengʷ- (“to push”)). The Middle English word displaced Middle English aqueint, aquenched (“extinct; extinguished”). Doublet of extinguish.

From Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org (CC BY-SA)

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