noun
extinction
The complete disappearance of a species, practice, or other continuing line.
Where it comes from
Extinction ordinarily means the complete disappearance of a species, practice, or other continuing line. Extinction came from Latin extinctio, annihilation or extinction, based on extinguere, to quench, put out, or wipe away. English extinct and extinction first applied to fires and lights that had gone out. A flame that could no longer burn supplied a metaphor for any line of existence brought to an end.
How the meaning developed
The word expanded to debts, people, families, and titles, then to biological kinds whose last members had died.
Sources
Definitions adapted from Open English WordNet where applicable. License and attribution. Word-history text comes from Lexifour’s sourced social research; pages are assembled automatically, not individually fact-checked on every update.
Updated 2026-10-05. Report a correction.