abnormality

Etymology

It is formed from English abnormal + -ity.^[2][3][4][5] The OED compares the earlier abnormity and the word normality.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Something abnormal; an abnormal form or feature: first recorded in 1847, in the Lancet of 17 April.^[2][4] Etymonline dates this sense to 1846,^[3] and the 1989 edition of the OED dated it to 1859.^[6]

Semantic evolution

The word followed abnormity, recorded from 1731.^[3] The 1989 edition of the OED noted that abnormality lacks the disparaging force that usually attaches to abnormity,^[6][3]. The abstract sense, the quality or condition of being abnormal, appears soon after the concrete one: the OED's first quotation is from the Lancet in 1850,^[2] while Etymonline dates it to 1853 and the 1989 edition of the OED to 1854.^[3][6] Dictionary.com gives abnormalcy as an alternative form.^[5]

Timeline

• 1847 – something abnormal; an abnormal form or feature.^[2][4] Etymonline dates it to 1846.^[2][4][3]
• 1850 – the quality or condition of being abnormal.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. Something abnormal, such as a malformation or an aberration: The scan showed a small abnormality in the heart.^[4][7][2]
2. The quality or state of being abnormal; irregularity or deviation from what is usual.^[4][7][2]

Related words

• abnormalcy
• abnormity
• abnormal
• normality

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c d e f Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
6. ^ a b c Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins