mode
UK[məʊd]US[moʊd]
n
A way or manner in which something occurs or is done.
n
A particular fashion or style in clothes, art, etc., especially one that is popular at a particular time.
n
The value that appears most frequently in a given set of data.
Etymology
The word 'mode' entered English in the late 14th century via Old French 'mode', which itself derived from Latin 'modus', meaning "measure, manner, method, or rhythm." The Latin term is traced back to the Proto-Indo-European root med-, meaning "to take appropriate measures." This core concept of measured proportion or manner evolved logically into the modern meanings. From the idea of a measured method of doing something, it extended to signify a prevailing style or fashion (a measured, accepted manner) and, in mathematics and statistics, to the most frequently occurring value in a measured set of data.
Analysis
The word 'mode' is a simplex loanword from Latin. It cannot be meaningfully segmented into smaller, independent morphemes within its current English spelling.
Examples
The camera has an automatic mode for beginners.
Miniskirts were the dominant mode in the 1960s.
In the data set {2, 3, 3, 5, 7}, the mode is 3.