Other forms: extremities
An extremity is the furthest point, or a state of great need. The southern extremity, in extremity, extremity of grief.
In medicine the extremities are the hands and feet, and they are the first to lose blood flow when the body protects its core — which is why cold hands are the early sign. In extremity means in the last degree of need. Note that the Latin extremus is a superlative meaning outermost.
1nounfurthestThe furthest point of something.
“Land's End lies at the western extremity of Cornwall.”
2nounextremityA state of great need or suffering.
“In their extremity, the starving sailors ate their leather boots.”
extremity is a furthest point, or a dire state.
Latin extremitas comes from extremus, outermost, a superlative of exterus, outside. Exterior and extreme come from the same outside.
Proto-Indo-European
*-teh₂ts
Latin
extrēmitās — extremity; border, perimeter; ending
Old French
extremité
Middle English
extremite
English, today
extremity
Built from
From Middle English extremite, from Old French extremité, from Latin extrēmitās (“extremity; border, perimeter; ending”), from extrēmīs (“furthest, extreme”) + -itās (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European -teh₂ts; see extreme. Extrēmīs is derived from exter (“external, outward”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European h₁eǵʰs (“out”)) + -issimus (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European -is- + -(t)m̥mo-).
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA
Practised in A Song of Ice and Fire