egregious

Where does the word "egregious" come from? It comes from Latin grex, passing through Latin before entering English (1530s).

Egregious’s story begins in Latin: grex meant “flock, herd.” Flock, herd, combined with ex- (out of). Within Latin, it grew into egregius by ancient. Standing out from the flock, remarkable, from ex- and grex. It reached English by 1530s as egregious. Settled as the English word originally for something outstandingly good, later shifting to outstandingly bad. Today, egregious means shockingly and remarkably bad or offensive.

1. Stage 1 · Latin · ancient grex "flock, herd", flock, herd, combined with ex- (out of).
2. Stage 2 · Latin · ancient egregius "standing out from the flock, remarkable", standing out from the flock, remarkable, from ex- and grex.
3. Stage 3 · English · 1530s egregious "originally outstandingly good, later shifted to outstandingly bad", settled as the English word originally for something outstandingly good, later shifting to outstandingly bad.