typical

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˈtɪp.ɪ.kəl/^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Medieval Latin typicālis (“symbolic, figurative”),^[2][3][4] from Late Latin typicus “of a type”,^[2][3] from Ancient Greek τυπικός (typikós),^[2][3] from Ancient Greek τύπος (týpos, “impression, model; symbol, emblem”),^[2][3] the source of type.^[2][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

“Symbolic, emblematic, serving as a type”: 1609 in Merriam-Webster,^[5] about 1600 in Etymonline,^[3] 1612 in the OED and Barnhart, implied in typically from 1605.^[6][2] Johnson in 1755 still defined it as “emblematical; figurative of something else”.^[7]

Semantic evolution

The sense development began in natural history, where a species “serving as the type of a genus or family” is typical, by 1847.^[3][6] The general sense “conforming to a type, characteristic” is from 1850,^[3][2][6] and “having the qualities of a representative specimen” from 1860.^[6] An old sense, “of printers' type, typographical”, from 1770, is now rare or obsolete.^[6][8]

Timeline

• 1605 – implied in typically.^[2]
• 1609 – symbolic.^[5]
• 1770 – typographical.^[6]
• 1847 – in natural history.^[3][6]
• 1850 – characteristic.^[3][2][6]

Modern meaning

Adjective

1. Having the qualities that identify a kind, class or group; representative: a typical suburb.
2. Characteristic or distinctive: typical of her generosity.
3. Conforming to a type; normal.
4. (archaic) Symbolic, emblematic.

Word family

• typically
• typicality
• typicalness
• nontypical
• untypical

Related words

• typal
• type
• typic
• typify
• atypical
• prototype

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 Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ a b c d e f g h Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
8. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press