regular

Pronunciation

• IPA: UK /ˈreɡ.jə.lə/, US /ˈreɡ.jə.lɚ/^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English reguler,^[2][3] borrowed from Old French reguler (“ecclesiastical”) (modern régulier),^[3][2] and directly borrowed from Late Latin rēgulāris (“containing rules for guidance”),^[3][2] from Latin rēgula (“rule, straight piece of wood”),^[3][2] the source of rule,^[2] which Etymonline takes to Proto-Indo-European *reg- (“to move in a straight line”).^[3] In classical Latin rēgulāris meant “of a bar”.^[4] The English spelling was refashioned after the Latin, with -ar, from as early as 1398.^[2][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Belonging to a religious order bound by a rule: before 1387, in Trevisa's translation of Higden's Polychronicon,^[2][5] or about 1400;^[3] in this earliest use it was the opposite of secular.^[3] The noun, a member of a religious order, is from about 1400.^[2][3]

Semantic evolution

From the late 16th century the word was extended to shapes, verbs and other things that follow a predictable or uniform pattern:^[3] following a rule, symmetrical, from 1584,^[2][5] and steady or uniform in action from 1594,^[2][5] a sense implied earlier in the adverb regularly, “in order, systematically” (1392).^[2] “Normal, conforming to established custom” is from the 1630s,^[3] and “orderly, well-behaved” from 1705.^[3] In the army, a soldier of the permanent standing army is a regular from 1756,^[3] and the adjective in that sense is by 1706.^[3] “Recurring at fixed times” is by 1756,^[3][5] and the colloquial sense “real, genuine, thorough”, as in a regular hero, from 1821.^[3] A regular customer is by 1852,^[3] and in American use regular gasoline is from the 1970s.^[3] Old English had borrowed Latin regula as regol “rule, canon”.^[3]

Timeline

• before 1387 – of a religious order.^[2][5]
• c. 1400 – noun, a member of a religious order.^[2][3]
• 1584 – following a rule; symmetrical.^[2][5]
• 1594 – steady, uniform.^[2][5]
• 1630s – normal, customary.^[3]
• 1756 – a soldier of a standing army; recurring at fixed times.^[3]
• 1821 – real, thorough.^[3]
• 1852 – a regular customer.^[3]

Modern meaning

Adjective

1. Usual, normal or customary.
2. Happening at fixed intervals.
3. Even, orderly or symmetrical in form.
4. Following a fixed procedure or rule.
5. (grammar) Following the usual pattern of inflection: regular verbs.
6. Belonging to a permanent professional army.
7. Belonging to a religious order.
8. (informal) Complete, thorough: a regular nuisance.

Noun

1. A habitual customer or visitor.
2. A soldier of a regular army.
3. A member of a religious order.
4. A player who usually plays in a team's games.

Word family

• regularity
• regularly
• regularize
• stereoregular
• subregular
• regular army

Related words

• rail
• regal
• regimen
• regulate
• regulation
• rule
• regime
• region
• rectify
• irregular

Usage notes

In English dialects from Scotland and Ireland to the south of England, regular was widely used as an intensifying adverb, “thoroughly, completely”.^[6]

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 d e f g h i j k l m n o Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. ^ a b c d e f g Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ 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)