Standard

How to spell standard

8 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce standard

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does standard mean?

1. nounAn agreed level of quality or attainment used as a measure or model.
2. adjectiveOf the normal, regular, or accepted kind rather than special or unusual.
3. nounA flag or banner, especially one carried as the emblem of a group or military unit.

Standard in a sentence

• noun

  The hotel maintained a high standard of cleanliness in every room.

• adjective

  The car came with a standard engine and no optional extras.

• noun

  The royal standard flew above the palace when the queen was in residence.

• noun

  The new supplier failed to meet the standard set out in the contract.

• adjective

  The form uses standard wording that appears in every contract.

• noun

  Each regiment marched behind its own embroidered standard.

Where does standard come from?

Language of origin: French

The word came into English in the 1100s from Old French estandart, which named a tall flag or banner that a body of troops gathered around in battle. The origin of that Old French word is debated: many scholars link it to a Germanic phrase meaning roughly 'stand hard' or 'stand firm', since the banner was the fixed point a fighting force rallied to and refused to abandon, while others trace it to the Latin extendere, meaning 'to spread out', because the cloth was stretched and displayed. From the idea of a fixed rallying point, English gradually extended the sense to any agreed reference: a fixed measure of weight, length, or quality that everyone could be judged against. By the 1500s 'standard' was the accepted benchmark for coins and weights, and from there it grew into the adjective meaning 'normal' or 'regular'. The visible 'stand' inside the spelling is a useful anchor, since a standard is literally something that stands as the agreed point.

How the word is built

• stand (to stand, hold firm)
• -ard (noun suffix from Old French, denoting a thing or quality)