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Etymology data from Wiktionary via Wiktextract (CC BY-SA 4.0). Chinese character data from the 說文解字, the Taiwan MOE 國語辭典簡編本 (CC BY-ND 3.0 TW) and HSK/TOCFL lists.

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English

average

/ˈæv.(ə.)ɹɪd͡ʒ/
Any measure of central tendency, especially any mean, the median, or the mode.

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    • derived
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    Origin

    Etymology 1

    Not entirely certain. The oldest meaning in English is “customs duty”. Borrowed from Middle French avarie (“damage to ship or cargo”), from Old French avarie, from Old Italian avaria where it is first attested in the 12th century in the context of Mediterranean trade. From there most sources trace it to Arabic عَوَارِيَّة (ʕawāriyya, “damaged goods”), from عَوَار (ʕawār, “fault, blemish, defect, flaw”), from عَوِرَ (ʕawira, “to lose an eye”), but the OED gives it a Romance derivation from Italian avere (“property, goods”) or the like.

    The English suffix -age was added in analogy to words like damage.

    Etymology 2

    From Middle English average, from Medieval Latin averagium, from aver (“horse or other beast of burden, service required from the same”) from Old English eafor (“obligation to carry goods and convey messages for one's lord”) from aferian (“to remove, take away”); + -age.

    From Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.

    Lineage

    • partMiddle Frenchavarie
      • inheritedOld Frenchavarie
        • borrowedOld Italianavaria
          • borrowedArabicعَوَارِيَّة
            • partArabicعَوَار
              • derivedArabicع و ر
            • partArabicـِيَّة
              • partArabicـِيّ
              • partArabicـَة
                • inheritedProto-Semitic*-at-
          • partOld Italianavere
            • inheritedLatinhabeō “to have”
              • inheritedProto-Italic*haβēō
              • derivedProto-Indo-European*gʰeh₁bʰ- “to grab, take”
          • partOld Italian-ia
            • derivedLatin-ia “abstract noun suffix”
              • derivedLatin-ius
                • derivedOld Latin-ios
              • derivedAncient Greek-ῐᾰ “-y”
                • derivedProto-Indo-European*-ih₂
    • partEnglish-age “Forming nouns with the sense of appurtenance or collection.”
      • inheritedMiddle English-age
        • borrowedOld French-age
    • inheritedMiddle Englishaverage
      • partMiddle Englishaver
        • derivedOld Frenchavoir

    Meanings

    noun
    1. Any measure of central tendency, especially any mean, the median, or the mode.
    2. The arithmetic mean.
    3. A financial loss due to damage to transported goods; compensation for damage or loss.
    4. Proportional or equitable distribution of financial expense.
    5. Customs duty or similar charge payable on transported goods.
    6. An indication of a player's ability calculated from his scoring record, etc.
    adj
    1. Constituting or relating to the average.
    2. Neither very good nor very bad; rated somewhere in the middle of all others in the same category.
    3. Typical.
    4. Not outstanding, not good, banal; bad or poor.
    verb
    1. To compute the average of, especially the arithmetic mean.
    2. Over a period of time or across members of a population, to have or generate a mean value of.
    3. To divide among a number, according to a given proportion.
    4. To be, generally or on average.

    Sources

    • Wiktionary (via Wiktextract / kaikki.org) — CC BY-SA 4.0
    • Wiktionary: average