Estrange
/ɪˈstreɪndʒ/noun
To make or become distant, unfriendly, or alienated.
Did you know?Estrange comes from Old French estrangier, built on the same root as *strange*—so the word originally meant to make someone a stranger, which is why emotional distance still feels so hauntingly literal.
Etymological Timeline
Latin
Latin
extraneus
“foreign, outside, not belonging”
Old French
Old French
estrangier
“to treat as a stranger; to alienate”
Middle English
English
estrangen
“to make strange; to alienate”
15th Century
English
estrange
“to alienate or cause to become unfriendly”
Modern English
English
estrange
“to cause to be no longer close or friendly”