normality

Etymology

It is formed from English normal + -ity,^[2][3][4] perhaps on the model of French normalité, recorded in French from 1834.^[2][5] Merriam-Webster Unabridged takes it as probably from the French word.^[6][7] The OED compares Italian normalità, recorded from 1869, Spanish normalidad, and an isolated Medieval Latin normalitas (“the state of being governed by rule”) of the late 11th century.^[2] Normal is from Latin normālis (“right-angled; conforming to a rule”),^[2][3] from norma (“carpenter's square; rule, pattern”), a word of unknown origin.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The character or state of being in keeping with a rule or standard: Etymonline dates it to 1833.^[3] The OED's first quotation is from the Morning Chronicle of 30 May 1839,^[2] and Wilton cites an earlier one, from an article on German literature in the Eclectic Review of May 1837.^[5]

Semantic evolution

In statistics the word was used from 1897 for the property of having a normal, or Gaussian, distribution,^[2] and in chemistry from 1903 for the concentration of a solution measured against that of a normal solution.^[2][6] The Shorter Oxford also records it for normal things or acts taken together.^[4] Of the three nouns of the same meaning that appeared in the mid-19th century, normality is the oldest and the most common on both sides of the Atlantic.^[5]

Timeline

• 1833 – the state of being normal.^[3] The OED's first quotation is from 1839.^[2]
• 1897 – in statistics, the property of having a normal distribution.^[2]
• 1903 – in chemistry, the concentration of a solution in relation to a normal solution.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. The state of being normal, usual or in line with a norm; normalcy: After the storm the town slowly returned to normality.^[6][8][2]
2. (chemistry) The concentration of a solution, expressed in gram equivalents of solute per litre.^[6][8][2]
3. (statistics) The property of having a normal distribution.^[2]

Word family

• nonnormality
• seminormality

Related words

• normal
• norm
• normalcy
• abnormality

Usage notes

Wilton notes that normality, normalcy and normalness mean the same thing but differ in register, region and frequency: normality is the usual word in both Britain and North America, normalcy is more North American, is seen by some as an error or as informal, and is associated with Warren Harding's presidential campaign of 1920, and normalness is rare everywhere.^[5]

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 Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b c d Wilton, Dave, Wordorigins.org, wordorigins.org, p. "normality / normalcy / normalness", 28 January 2022
6. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
7. ^ Gove, Philip Babcock, ed. (1961), Webster's Third New International Dictionary of the English Language, Unabridged, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam
8. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin