Random

How to spell random

6 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce random

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does random mean?

1. adjectiveMade, done, or chosen without a clear method, pattern, or purpose; governed by chance.

Random in a sentence

• The survey selected a random sample of households across the city.

• She made a random comment that had nothing to do with the meeting.

Where does random come from?

Language of origin: French

This word came into English in the 1300s from the Old French word randon, which meant speed, force, or impetuous rush, and was related to the verb randir, meaning to gallop or run fast. The French noun itself traces back to a Germanic root connected to running and rim or edge, the same family that gave us the word 'rand'. In Middle English the phrase 'at random' originally meant 'at great speed' or 'with headlong force', describing a horse running without restraint or control. From that idea of being uncontrolled and without aim, the meaning gradually shifted to 'without method, purpose, or pattern', which is the everyday sense we use today. The modern statistical sense, meaning governed only by chance, grew out of this in the nineteenth century. A useful spelling cue is that the word ends in '-dom' like 'kingdom', not in '-dum'.

How the word is built

• random (from Old French randon: speed, impetuosity, force) treated as a single root, now reanalysed with no separable affixes