Revised 2003
Factsheet
What does the word normal mean?
There are 26 meanings listed in OED's entry for the word normal, two of which are labelled obsolete. See ‘Meaning & use’ for definitions, usage, and quotation evidence.
normal has developed meanings and uses in subjects including
geometry (mid 1600s) university (late 1700s) chemistry (1850s) weather (1850s) medicine (1860s) physics (1860s) organic chemistry (1860s) geology (1870s) life sciences (1870s) pharmacology (1870s) statistics (1880s) mathematics (1900s) dynamics (1940s)
How common is the word normal?
About 100occurrences per million words in modern written English
See frequency
How is the word normal pronounced?
British English
/ˈnɔːml/
NOR-muhl
U.S. English
/ˈnɔrm(ə)l/
NOR-muhl
See pronunciation
Where does the word normal come from?
Earliest known use
late 1500s
The earliest known use of the word normal is in the late 1500s.
OED's earliest evidence for normal is from 1598, in a translation by A. M.
normal is a borrowing from Latin.
Etymons: Latin normālis.
See etymology
Nearby entries
- Norland, n.²1894–
- 1577–
- Norlander, n.¹1716–
- Norlander, n.²1944–
- Norlandism, n.c1795
- norleucine, n.1913–
- norm, n.¹1821–
- Norm, n.²1980–
- norm, v.1914–
- norma, n.a1676–
- normal, adj. & n.1598–
- normalcy, n.1857–
- normal-faulted, adj.1975–
- normal forest, n.1928–
- normal form, n.1948–
- normalien, n.1904–
- normalism, n.1884–
- normalist, n.1878–
- normality, n.1839–
- normalizable, adj.1939–
- normalization, n.1848–
Browse more nearby entries
Etymology
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Meaning & use
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