Norm

How to spell norm

4 letters · 1 syllable

How to pronounce norm

What does norm mean?

1. nounAn accepted standard, pattern, or typical level of behaviour or performance.

Norm in a sentence

• Working from home has become the norm in many industries.

• The survey set a clear norm for acceptable response times.

Where does norm come from?

Language of origin: Latin

The word comes from the Latin norma, which literally named a carpenter's set square, the L-shaped tool used to draw and check right angles. Because that tool defined what was correct and true, norma came to mean a rule, a pattern, or a standard of measurement, the same metaphorical leap that gave us 'normal'. English picked up 'norm' fairly late, around the early nineteenth century, drawing on this Latin sense to mean a model or typical standard against which other things are judged. The closely related adjective 'normal' had already entered English from the Latin normalis, meaning 'made according to the square'. The single short syllable and clean spelling make 'norm' easy, though it shares its root with a whole family of words including 'enormous', literally 'out of the norm'.

How the word is built

• norm (from Latin norma: a carpenter's square, a rule or standard)