normalcy

Etymology

It is formed from English normal + -cy.^[2][3][4][5] The OED compares the slightly earlier normality and normalness,^[2] and Wilton notes that all three abstract nouns first appear in the mid-19th century, normality being the oldest.^[6] Klein called normalcy a hybrid coined by Warren G. Harding,^[5] but the OED and Merriam-Webster record it from 1857.^[2][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

The state or fact of being normal: 1857, in Davies and Peck's Mathematical Dictionary.^[2][7] Etymonline takes this first use in the geometrical sense, the condition of being at right angles.^[3]

Semantic evolution

Until 1920 the word was used mostly in its mathematical sense, and purists preferred normality for a normal state of affairs.^[3] In that year Warren G. Harding campaigned for the American presidency with the slogan "Return to Normalcy", meaning the conditions before the First World War, and the word has been tied to him ever since;^[3][6][5] his use of it was mocked as an example of his clumsy English.^[3] Wilton finds that normalcy surged in American writing from 1916 to a first peak in 1924, and has stayed in fairly common use there, while in British writing it remained rare.^[6] H. W. Fowler (1926) saw nothing to recommend it, and Burchfield (1996) judged that the two words stand side by side as alternatives in American English, while in British English normality is usual and normalcy widely scorned.^[2]

Timeline

• 1857 – the state of being normal, first in a mathematical dictionary.^[2][7] Etymonline reads it as the geometrical sense, being at right angles.^[3]
• 1920 – a return to normal conditions after the war, in Warren G. Harding's slogan “Return to Normalcy”.^[3][6]

Meanings

Noun

1. The state, condition or fact of being normal; normality: After the strike, the town slowly returned to normalcy.^[7][8][9]
2. (mathematics) The state of being normal in geometry, at a right angle to a line or surface.^[3][1]

Related words

• normal
• normality
• normalness

Usage notes

Normality is the more common of the two words on both sides of the Atlantic;^[6] normalcy is mainly North American, and some regard it as an error or as informal.^[6][2] Wiktionary adds that it is frequent in India and Zimbabwe.^[1]

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g h Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
5. ^ a b c Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
6. ^ a b c d e f Wilton, Dave, Wordorigins.org, wordorigins.org, p. "normality / normalcy / normalness", 28 January 2022
7. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
8. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
9. ^ Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster