Etymologically
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regular

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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
  • 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)