English
egregious
Egregious comes from Latin ēgregius ‘distinguished, excellent, eminent’, and goes back to grex ‘flock’.
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEgrex‘flock’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEēgregius‘distinguished, excellent, eminent’
- Englishearliest quotation 1601egregious
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Earlier history uncertain.
Lineage
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEgrex‘flock’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEēgregius‘distinguished, excellent, eminent’
- Englishearliest quotation 1601egregious
Earliest quotation: 1601, Ben Jonson, Poetaster or The Arraignment: […]: “Tuc[ca]. […] Can thy Author doe it impudently enough?…”
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *h₃ed- ‘to smell’
dental, tooth, dent, zinc, odor, annoy, ozone, dens, tusk, dancy, odious, redolent, osmium, odium, 69 more
through Latin grex ‘flock’
aggregate, congregation, aggregation, congregate, segregate, gregarious, 7 more
Today it means
adj Conspicuous, exceptional, outstanding; usually in a negative sense.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Latin grex / egregious