average
Meaning
The result you get by adding two or more amounts together and dividing the total by the number of amounts
Calculated by adding several amounts together, finding a total, and dividing the total by the number of amounts
To be usually or typically a particular amount, rate, or level
Usage
The average of 4, 6, and 8 is 6.
The average temperature in July is much higher.
Rainfall averages about 40 inches a year in this region.
Etymology
The word 'average' has a fascinating journey rooted in maritime commerce. It originates from the Arabic term 'ʿawārīyah', referring to damaged goods, which passed into Italian as 'avaria', denoting a maritime loss or duty. In French, it became 'avarie'. The crucial semantic shift occurred in English during the 18th century. The concept evolved from the specific financial practice of sharing the loss from damaged cargo proportionally among all merchants, to the general mathematical principle of a mean proportional distribution, giving us the modern statistical meaning. Thus, a term for a shared commercial loss transformed into the concept of a shared, typical value.
Analysis
This word is a simplex form. It entered English as a loanword from French, which derived it from Italian and ultimately Arabic. Its spelling and form are not productively built from separable English morphemes.