common

Meanings

1. 1
   adj

   Happening or found often; usual.

   It is common to find sharks off this coast.

2. 2
   adj

   Shared by two or more people or groups.

   The two competitors have the common aim of winning the championship.

3. 3
   adj

   Ordinary, with nothing special about it.

   It was just a common garden flower, nothing rare.

4. 4
   adj

   Known or shared by almost everyone; general.

   It is common knowledge that smoking is harmful.

Common collocations

• common mistake Adjective + noun
• common sense Adjective + noun

From Middle English comun, from Anglo-Norman comun, from Old French comun (rare in the Gallo-Romance languages, but reinforced as a Carolingian calque of Proto-West Germanic *gamainī (“common”) in Old French), from Latin commūnis (“common, public, general”), from Proto-Indo-European *ḱom-moy-ni-s (“held in common”), from Proto-Indo-European *mey- (“to exchange, change”). Displaced native Middle English imene, ȝemǣne (“common, general, universal”) (from Old English ġemǣne (“common, universal”)), Middle English mene, mǣne (“mean, common”) (also from Old English ġemǣne (“common, universal”)), Mid…

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