normal

Meanings

1. 1
   adj

   Usual, ordinary, or expected; not strange or surprising.

   It is normal to feel nervous before an exam.

2. 2
   adj

   Healthy and feeling like yourself; not ill.

   After a few days of rest, John felt normal again.

3. 3
   noun

   The usual or expected state of things.

   I was quite ill for a while, but I've now returned to normal.

Appears in

Simplified etymology

Normal entered English in the late 16th century and derives from Latin norma, “pattern” or “standard.” It shares this root with norm and with Latin enormis, literally conveying the idea of being outside the standard, from which enormous developed.

Etymology tree Latin norma Proto-Indo-European *h₂el-der.? Proto-Italic *-ālis Latin -ālis Latin nōrmālisder. English normal From Latin normālis (“made according to a carpenter's square; later: according to a rule”), from nōrma (“carpenter's square”), of uncertain origin; doublet of normale. The earliest meaning of the word in English was "perpendicular; forming a right angle" like something normālis (“made according to a carpenter's square”), but by Late Latin normālis had also come to mean "according to a rule", from which modern English senses of the word derive: in the 1800s, as people beg…

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