Etymology

egregious

E1G2R1E1G2I1O1U1S1

Today it means: Conspicuous, exceptional, outstanding; usually in a negative sense. Full definition →

Latin ēgregius ← Proto-Italic *eks ← Proto-Indo-European *h₁éǵʰs
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The story

  1. Proto-Indo-European*h₁éǵʰ
  2. Proto-Indo-European*h₁éǵʰs
  3. Proto-Italic*eks
  4. Latinex
  5. Latinex-
  6. Latingrex
  7. Latinēgregius
  8. English todayegregious

From Latin ēgregius, from e- (“out of”), + grex (“flock”), + English adjective suffix -ous, from Latin suffix -osus (“full of”); reflecting the positive connotations of "standing out from the flock".

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.