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# existential
- URL: https://keithhayden.net/existential/
- Published: 2026-09-02T12:21:18.000Z
- Updated: 2026-09-02T12:36:48.000Z
- Description: An adjective about existence
- Author: Keith Hayden
- Tags: #hfd-word

02 SEP 2026 

0/5 word facts discovered 

## existential

/ˌeɡ.zɪˈsten.ʃəl/

adjective

of, relating to, or affirming existence

existential 02·09·26 

mid-1600s Late Latin · existence 

01 Keith’s definition 

having to do with existence

02 Official meaning 

of, relating to, or affirming existence

03 In use 

> Beneath her grandfather’s moth-eaten Starfleet tunic, Commander T’Var carried the existential certainty that her katra would survive every war, though she’d begun to suspect she had no soul to preserve.

04 Hear it 

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### Useless facts

- **The surprisingly eventful life of *existential***  

**Existential** entered English in the mid-1600s from Late Latin **existentialis**, built from a word for existence. The adjective therefore spent centuries describing existence before it became inseparable from anxious philosophers, freedom, and the search for meaning.  
Its range kept widening. Philosophy made it a question of human being and choice; logic gave it the symbol **∃**, meaning “there exists”; grammar applied it to constructions such as *there is*. Everyday speech eventually produced the **existential crisis** and **existential threat**—moments when existence itself is under threat.
- The Scrabble score is **18 points**: E = 1, X = 8, I = 1, S = 1, T = 1, E = 1, N = 1, T = 1, I = 1, A = 1, and L = 1.
- **11 letters** and **4 syllables.**
- It is pronounced **/ˌeɡ.zɪˈsten.ʃəl/**, with the main stress on *sten*.
- The Oxford English Dictionary dates the adjective to the **mid-1600s**, long before modern existentialism.
- The word comes from Late Latin **existentialis**, formed from *existentia*, “existence.”
- In symbolic logic, the existential quantifier **∃** means **“there exists.”**
- Dictionary.com selected **existential** as its 2019 Word of the Year.

HAYDEN’S FIELD DICTIONARY [ ← Return to the Word Archive ](https://keithhayden.net/haydens-field-dictionary-archive/) 

WORD COMPLETE **existential** adjective 5 FACTS RECOVERED FIELD ARCHAEOLOGIST **YOU**