normalization

Etymology

It is formed from English normal + -ization;^[2] Etymonline and Merriam-Webster Unabridged analyse it as normalize and -ation.^[3][4] The OED notes that its first quotation translates German Normalisirung, now spelled Normalisierung, and compares French normalisation, recorded in French from 1873.^[2] Normal is from Late Latin normālis (“in conformity with rule”), in classical Latin "made according to a carpenter's square", from norma (“rule, pattern; carpenter's square”).^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The action or process of making normal: 1848, in C. H. Meeker's translation of J. H. Rausse's Errors of Physicians.^[2][5] Etymonline dates the word to 1842.^[3]

Semantic evolution

Beside the general sense, the word gained technical uses: in psychology, from 1935, in Koffka's Principles of Gestalt Psychology, the unconscious process by which the mental image of a shape is changed to look more familiar;^[2][5] and in politics, from 1938, the setting up of stable relations between two parties, especially between a major power and a weaker or dependent country.^[2][5] Etymonline likewise dates the international political sense by 1938.^[3] In social welfare, Collins records it as the policy of letting disabled people live as ordinary a life as possible, without separating them from the rest of society.^[6]

Timeline

• 1848 – the action or process of making normal.^[2][5] Etymonline dates the word to 1842.^[3]
• 1935 – in psychology, the changing of a mental image to resemble something more familiar.^[2][5]
• 1938 – in politics, the achieving of stable relations between two countries or parties.^[2][5][3]

Meanings

Noun

1. The act or process of making something normal or bringing it back to a normal state: the normalization of prices after the shortage.^[6][4][2]
2. (politics) The establishment or restoration of stable, regular relations between two countries or parties: the normalization of diplomatic ties between the two states.^[2][4][3]
3. (psychology) The unconscious process by which the remembered image of a shape or pattern is altered to resemble something more familiar.^[2]
4. (social welfare) The policy of giving disabled people conditions of everyday life as close as possible to those of others, without segregating them.^[6]

Word family

• renormalization

Related words

• normal
• normalize
• norm

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. ^ a b c d e f Kay, Christian; Roberts, Jane; Samuels, Michael; Wotherspoon, Irené, eds. (2009), Historical Thesaurus of the Oxford English Dictionary, Oxford: Oxford University Press; online edition (2024)
6. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins