superfluous

English

WOTD – 5 June 2007

Etymology

From Middle English superfluous, 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

• (UK) IPA^(key): /suːˈpɜːflu.əs/, /sjʊˈpɜːflu.əs/

  • Audio (UK)

    (file)

• (US) IPA^(key): /suˈpɝflu.əs/

  • Audio (US)

    (file)

• Audio (AU)

  (file)

Adjective

superfluous (comparative more superfluous, superlative most superfluous)

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

Derived terms

• superfluous interval
• superfluous man

Related terms

• superflux
• superfluity
• mellifluous

Translations

excess of what is sufficient

• Armenian: ավելորդ (hy) (avelord)
• Asturian: superfluu
• Bulgarian: излишен (bg) (izlišen), ненужен (bg) (nenužen)
• Catalan: superflu (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 多餘／多余 (zh) (duōyú)

• Czech: zbytečný (cs), nadbytečný
• Danish: overflødig (da)
• Dutch: overtollig (nl), overdadig (nl), overvloedig (nl)
• Esperanto: superflua
• Finnish: ylenpalttinen (fi), tarpeeton (fi), ylitsevuotavainen, liiallinen (fi)
• French: superflu (fr)
• Galician: superfluo
• German: überflüssig (de)
• Greek: περιττός (el) (perittós)

  Ancient: περισσός (perissós)

• Hungarian: felesleges (hu), fölösleges (hu), túlzott (hu)
• Icelandic: ofaukinn, ónauðsynlegur (is)
• Ido: superflua (io)
• Irish: iomarcach
• Italian: superfluo (it)
• Japanese: 冗長な (ja) (じょうちょうな, jōchō na)
• Latin: supervacuus, superfluus, supervacāneus, superforāneus
• Latvian: lieks
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: overflødig (no)

  Nynorsk: overflødig

• Persian: زیادی (fa) (ziyâdi)
• Polish: niepotrzebny (pl), zbyteczny (pl), nadmierny (pl)
• Portuguese: supérfluo (pt)
• Romanian: superfluu (ro), de prisos
• Russian: ли́шний (ru) (líšnij), изли́шний (ru) (izlíšnij)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: су̏вӣшан

  Roman: sȕvīšan (sh)

• Spanish: superfluo (es)
• Swedish: överflödig (sv)
• Ukrainian: за́йвий (zájvyj)
• Vietnamese: dư thừa