average

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˈæv.ər.ɪdʒ/^[1]

Etymology

It is an alteration, after words in -age such as damage,^[2][3][4] of earlier averay,^[5] borrowed from Middle French avarie (“damage to ship or cargo; port dues”),^[4][3] from Old Italian avaria,^[5][4] a word of 12th-century Mediterranean trade, of uncertain origin.^[6] It is often traced to Arabic ʿawārīya “damaged merchandise”, from ʿawār “defect, damage”,^[5][4][7] but Etymonline notes that the OED takes the Arabic word to be modern and itself derived from the western one.^[6] The OED called it a word that has received more etymological investigation than almost any other.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

A duty or tax on goods, and the cost or loss from damage at sea: averag, 1491,^[2][8] or the late 15th century as a small charge over the freight, paid by the owners of goods to the ship's master.^[6][7]

Semantic evolution

The maritime sense developed to “the equitable sharing of a loss at sea among all the parties concerned”, from 1598;^[8][6] the Century Dictionary explains that owners of cargo or insurers contributed to the loss according to their average, the proportionate value of their goods.^[6] The COED notes that the modern meaning arose from this sharing of liability.^[9] The transferred sense, a proportionate distribution of inequalities, is from 1735, and the arithmetic mean from 1755.^[6][8] The batting average in cricket is from 1845.^[6][8] The adjective is from 1770 and means “of medium character” by 1803;^[6][8] the verb “to amount to on average” is from 1769, and “to find the mean of” by 1831.^[6][8]

Timeline

• 1491 – a duty on goods; a charge on shipping.^[2][8]
• 1598 – the sharing of a loss at sea.^[8]
• 1735 – a proportionate distribution.^[6]
• 1755 – the arithmetic mean.^[6][8]
• 1769 – verb, to amount to on average.^[6]
• 1770 – adjective.^[6][10]
• 1845 – a cricket average.^[6]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. A number that typifies a set of numbers, especially the arithmetic mean.
2. The usual or ordinary level, kind or quality.
3. In sports, a ratio of successful performances to opportunities.
4. (law) The sharing of a loss at sea among those concerned.

Adjective

1. Of or being an average.
2. Intermediate between extremes; ordinary, typical.

Verb

1. To calculate the average of.
2. To do or have on average.
3. To divide proportionately; to work out evenly: average out.

Word family

• averagely
• averageness
• averageable
• subaverage
• underaverage
• unaveraged
• batting average
• earned run average

Related words

• mean
• median
• damage

Usage notes

Two older words of the same spelling are unrelated: a feudal service owed by a tenant with draught animals, from Medieval Latin averagium,^[3][11][8] and a northern dialect word for the stubble pasture of cornfields after harvest, recorded from 1537 and also called averish.^[8][12][3] The American Heritage Dictionary compares average with medium, mediocre, fair and middling.^[13]

References

1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
2. ^ a b c Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
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 c d Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. ^ a b c The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (2000), 4th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
7. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
9. ^ Soanes, Catherine; Stevenson, Angus, eds. (2004), Concise Oxford English Dictionary, 11th ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
10. ^ Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
11. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
12. ^ Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)
13. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin