Norm Comes From a Carpenter's Square
A norm is a standard or expected pattern. Its Latin source was a measuring tool.
A norm is a standard, model or expected pattern of behaviour. Latin *norma* was a carpenter's square, the tool for checking a right angle, and the metaphor is exact: a norm is what you hold work against to see whether it is true. That is also why *normal* originally meant at right angles, a sense that survives in geometry where a normal is a line perpendicular to a surface. *Enormous* is the same word negated: out of the square, beyond the standard.
- A standard. *Social norms.*
- The usual. *Below the norm.*
- Normal — conforming. *Normal.*
- A perpendicular line. *The normal.*
- Latin — *norma*, a square. *The root.*
Word forms
| Form | Word | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Noun | norm | A norm. |
| Plural | norms | Norms. |
| Adjective | normal | Normal. |
| Verb | normalise | To normalise. |
| Latin | norma | A carpenter's square. |
- It became the norm.Standard.
- Norma was a square.Etymology.
- The normal to a surface.Geometry.
The norma family
- Norm — a standard to measure against
- Normal — conforming, or at right angles
- Enormous — out of the square, beyond measure
- Abnormal — away from the standard
- Normative — setting a standard rather than describing one
Latin *norma*, a carpenter's square or rule, adopted in English in the 1800s.
What was a norma?
A carpenter's square, used to check right angles. A norm is what you measure work against, exactly as the tool was used.
Is enormous related to norm?
Yes. It means out of the square, beyond the standard.