Etymologically
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abnormal

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 24 October 2026 at 18:42. This address is a permanent link to this version.
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Pronunciation

  • UK: /ˌæbˈnɔː.məl/[1]
  • US: /ˌæbˈnɔɹ.ml̩/, /əbˈnɔɹ.ml̩/[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin abnormis (“deviating from a rule; belonging to no school”) with the suffix -al,[2][3] the Latin adjective being formed from ab- (“off, away from”) and norma (“carpenter's square, rule”).[4][3][5] Most dictionaries describe it as a refashioning of the older anormal under the influence of the Latin word;[4][6][7][8][5] Barnhart sees it as formed in English by adding the same prefix to normal, and as outliving anormal under that influence.[9] Anormal (1530) came from French anormal, recorded in Old French in 1236, from Medieval Latin anormālis,[2][4][5] which is explained either as a blend of Late Latin anōmalus (“irregular”) with normālis (“normal”) or abnormis,[10][5][8][2] or as the Late Latin word altered under the influence of norma.[4][7][11] Anōmalus is from Ancient Greek ἀνώμαλος (anṓmalos, “uneven, irregular”),[4][12][7] the source of anomalous.[7] Weekley, quoting the OED, remarked that few words show "such a series of pseudo-etymological perversions".[12][4] An earlier English adjective from abnormis, abnormous, is recorded from 1710,[2] and the OED compares German abnormal, recorded by 1811.[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Departing from the ordinary type, especially in an undesirable way; contrary to the rule; irregular: 1817, in the Annals of Philosophy.[2][3] Etymonline and Barnhart date it to 1835,[4][9] and Dictionary.com to 1850–55.[11]

Semantic evolution

The word was at first at home in science: the SOED quotes Darwin calling the wing of a bat a most abnormal structure.[6] The abnormal, what is abnormal, is recorded from 1848, in De Quincey, and the noun, an abnormal person or thing, from 1857.[2][3] In the early 20th century it came to mean concerned with what is abnormal, as in abnormal psychology.[6] Merriam-Webster records it both for what lies above the normal, such as excessive profits or exceptional powers, and for what falls below it, especially in mental ability.[3] The older anormal survived into the 20th century as a neutral opposite of normal, used where the overtones of abnormal, unhealthy or unnatural, were unwanted.[4]

Timeline

  • 1530 – anormal, of a verb, irregular.[2]
  • 1710 – abnormous, irregular, misshapen.[2]
  • 1812 – anormal, abnormal, irregular.[2][4]
  • 1817 – abnormal, departing from the ordinary type.[2][3]
  • 1835 – Etymonline's and Barnhart's date for abnormal.[4][9]
  • 1848 – the abnormal, what is abnormal.[2]
  • 1857 – noun, an abnormal person or thing.[2][3]

Modern meaning

Adjective

  1. Not normal; departing from what is usual or typical, especially in a way that is worrying or undesirable: The scan showed an abnormal growth on the lung.
  2. Greater than normal; excessive or exceptional.
  3. (informal) Strange in behaviour or appearance; odd.

Noun

  1. An abnormal person or thing.

Word family

  • abnormally
  • abnormalness
  • abnormity
  • superabnormal
  • abnormality
  • abnormalize
  • abnormalcy

References

  1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d e f g Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  5. ^ a b c d Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  7. ^ a b c d Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  8. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
  9. ^ a b c Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  10. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
  11. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
  12. ^ a b Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray