average-looking
Meaning
Having an appearance that is neither very attractive nor very unattractive; ordinary or typical in appearance.
Structure
Usage
He was an average-looking man who easily blended into a crowd.
The film's protagonist was deliberately cast as an average-looking person to enhance the story's relatability.
While not conventionally handsome, his average-looking features were offset by a charismatic smile.
Etymology
The compound 'average-looking' is a modern English formation that combines two established concepts to create a specific descriptor of appearance. The first element, 'average', has a complex journey from an Arabic maritime term for damaged goods, evolving through Romance languages to signify a mathematical mean and, by extension, a standard of typicality. The second element, 'looking', derives from the Old English verb for seeing, with the '-ing' suffix converting it into an adjectival form describing a visual quality. When fused, the literal "typical-appearing" meaning directly conveys the modern abstract sense of being unremarkable in physical attractiveness, reflecting a societal tendency to quantify and categorize human features against a perceived norm.
Analysis
- average: From English 'average', ultimately from Arabic 'ʿawārīyah' (damaged goods), via French, Italian, and Latin. Functions as an adjective meaning 'typical' or 'ordinary'. - looking: From English 'look' (Old English 'lōcian', to see, gaze) + the participial suffix '-ing'. Functions as an adjective-forming suffix meaning 'having the appearance of'.