anomalous

Etymology

It is borrowed from Late Latin anōmalus (“irregular, uneven”) with the suffix -ous,^[2][3][4][5] from Ancient Greek ἀνώμαλος (anṓmalos, “uneven, irregular”),^{[6][4][7][8][9]} from ἀν- (an-, “not”) and ὁμαλός (homalós, “even, level”),^{[6][7][9][10]} from ὁμός (homós, “same”),^[6][7][9] from Proto-Indo-European *sem- (“one; as one, together with”).^[6][8] Dictionary.com explains the Greek long vowel by analogy with other privative words,^[10] and the American Heritage Dictionary calls the prefix analysis only probable.^[8] Grammarians used the Latin adjective from the 4th century.^[2] English had the earlier adjective anomal, from Middle French anomal and its Latin source, and also anomaly.^[2][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

Deviating from what is standard or expected: 1606, in W. Birnie's Blame of Kirk-buriall, the first record since the OED's 2022 revision.^[2] Other dictionaries begin later: 1646 in Merriam-Webster Unabridged, the 1640s or 1640–50 in Etymonline and Dictionary.com, and the mid 17th century in the Shorter Oxford.^{[9][6][10][3]}

Semantic evolution

From the general sense the word passed to grammar, where it described forms that do not follow the usual rules, recorded from 1659,^[2] and it also took to for what was out of keeping with something else, from 1646, now an archaic use.^[2][9][3] Johnson (1755) defined it as "irregular; out of rule" and noted its use in grammar, for words that break the rules of inflection, and in astronomy, for the seemingly irregular motions of the planets.^[11] Both uses match the grammatical and astronomical senses of Latin anōmalia and French anomalie.^[2]

Timeline

• 1606 – deviating from what is normal, irregular.^[2]
• 1646 – with to, dissimilar to, not in conformity with, in Sir T. Browne.^[2][9]
• 1659 – in grammar, not following the usual rules.^[2]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Departing from what is usual, expected or standard; irregular or abnormal: The sensor gave an anomalous reading.^[12][9][2]
2. Out of keeping with its surroundings; incongruous.^[12][9]
3. In grammar, not following the usual rules of inflection or syntax.^[2][11]
4. (archaic) Followed by to: unlike, or not in conformity with.^[9][3][2]

Word family

• anomalously
• anomalousness

Related words

• anomaly
• same
• homologous

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 Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
5. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
7. ^ a b c d Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
8. ^ a b c The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
9. ^ a b c d e f g h i Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
10. ^ a b c Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
11. ^ a b Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
12. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins