## Meanings
1. Better, more important, or different from what is usual or normal.
2. Made or kept for a particular purpose.
3. A product or meal offered at a lower price for a limited time.
4. A television program made about one particular person, topic, or event.

## Examples
- We paid special attention to the new students.
- You need a special kind of paint for this job.
- They're having a special on pork chops this week.
- We watched a Christmas special on TV last night.

## Antonyms
- common
- common-or-garden
- everyday
- general
- nonspecial
- ordinary
- run-of-the-mill
- usual

## Derived Forms
- antispecial
- genderspecial
- hyperspecial
- interspecial
- special-case
- specialisation
- specialise
- specialism
- specialist
- speciality
- specially
- specialness

## Related Forms
- especial
- especially

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: *speḱ-
- Root: *special
- Root: especial
- Root: speciālis
- Affix: -ial - relating to

## Etymology
From Middle English *special, especial, especiall, from Old French especial (whence also French spécial), from Latin speciālis (from speciēs). In this sense displaced native Old English synderlīċ. Doublet of especial.

## AI Etymology
Special is from Middle English *special, especial, especiall, from Old French especial (whence also French spécial), from Latin speciālis (from speciēs). In this sense displaced native Old English synderlīċ. Doublet of especial. Important forms in the word's history include Proto-Indo-European *speḱ-, Middle English *special, Old French especial, Latin speciālis. In current use it includes senses such as Better, more important, or different from what is usual or normal and Made or kept for a particular purpose.

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