superfluous

WOTD – 5 June 2007

English

Etymology

From Latin superfluus (“superfluous”), from superfluō (“overflow”), from super (“above,more than, over”) + fluō (“flow”). Compare mellifluous and fluid, also from Latin. Literally corresponds to overflow, which is from Germanic, rather than Latin.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /suːˈpɜːflu.əs/, /sjʊˈpɜːflu.əs/
• (US) IPA^(key): /suːˈpɝːflu.əs/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

Adjective

superfluous (not comparable)

1. In excess of what is required or sufficient.

   With a full rain suit, carrying an umbrella may be superfluous.

Synonyms

• excessive, extraneous, extra, pleonastic, supernumerary, surplus, unnecessary, extravagant

Coordinate terms

• gratuitous

Related terms

• superflux
• superfluity
• mellifluous

Translations

excess of what is sufficient

• Armenian: ավելորդ (avelord)
• Asturian: superfluu
• Catalan: superflu
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 多餘, 多余 (zh) (duōyú)

• Czech: zbytečný m, nadbytečný m
• Danish: overflødig
• Dutch: overtollig (nl), overdadig (nl), overvloedig (nl)
• Finnish: ylenpalttinen, tarpeeton (fi), ylitsevuotavainen, liiallinen
• French: superflu (fr)
• Galician: superfluo
• German: überflüssig (de)
• Hungarian: felesleges (hu)
• Italian: superfluo (it)

• Japanese: 冗長な (じょうちょうな, jōchō na)
• Latin: supervacuus, superfluus, supervacāneus, superforāneus
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: overflødig

  Nynorsk: overflødig

• Polish: niepotrzebny (pl) m, zbyteczny (pl) m, nadmierny (pl) m
• Portuguese: supérfluo (pt) m
• Romanian: superfluu (ro) m, n, superfluă f, de prisos
• Russian: лишний (ru) (líšnij), излишний (ru) (izlíšnij)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: сувишан m

  Roman: suvišan m

• Spanish: superfluo (es) m
• Swedish: överflödig (sv)