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From Middle English comun, from Anglo-Norman comun, from Old French comun (rare in the Gallo-Romance languages, but reinforced as a Carolingian calque of Frankish gemeini, gamaini "common" in Old French), from Latin commūnis (common, public, general), from Proto-Indo-European *ko-moin-i (held in common). Displaced native Middle English ȝemǣne, imene (common, general, universal) (from Old English ġemǣne (common, universal)), Middle English mǣne, mene (mean, common) (also from Old English ġemǣne (common, universal)), Middle English samen, somen (in common, together) (from Old English samen (together)).



common (comparative commoner or more common, superlative commonest or most common)

  1. Mutual; shared by more than one.
    • 1918, W. B. Maxwell, chapter 19, The Mirror and the Lamp:
    The two competitors have the common aim of winning the championship.   Winning the championship is an aim common to the two competitors.
  2. Occurring or happening regularly or frequently; usual.
    It is common to find sharks off this coast.
  3. Found in large numbers or in a large quantity.
    • 2012 March 1, Lee A. Groat, “Gemstones”, American Scientist, volume 100, number 2, page 128: 
      Although there are dozens of different types of gems, among the best known and most important are […] . (Common gem materials not addressed in this article include amber, amethyst, chalcedony, garnet, lazurite, malachite, opals, peridot, rhodonite, spinel, tourmaline, turquoise and zircon.)
    Sharks are common in these waters.
  4. Simple, ordinary or vulgar.
    • Washington Irving
      the honest, heart-felt enjoyment of common life
    • Shakespeare
      This fact was infamous / And ill beseeming any common man, / Much more a knight, a captain and a leader.
    • A. Murphy
      above the vulgar flight of common souls
  5. (grammar) In some languages, particularly Germanic languages, of the gender originating from the coalescence of the masculine and feminine categories of nouns.
  6. Of or pertaining to uncapitalized nouns in English, i.e., common nouns vs. proper nouns.
  7. Vernacular, referring to the name of a kind of plant or animal, i.e., common name vs. scientific name.
  8. (obsolete) Profane; polluted.
    • Bible, Acts x. 15
      What God hath cleansed, that call not thou common.
  9. (obsolete) Given to lewd habits; prostitute.
    • L'Estrange
      a dame who herself was common



See also[edit]




common (plural commons)

  1. Mutual good, shared by more than one.
  2. A tract of land in common ownership; common land.
  3. The people; the community.
  4. (law) The right of taking a profit in the land of another, in common either with the owner or with other persons; so called from the community of interest which arises between the claimant of the right and the owner of the soil, or between the claimants and other commoners entitled to the same right.



common (third-person singular simple present commons, present participle commoning, simple past and past participle commoned)

  1. (obsolete) To communicate (something).
    • 1526, William Tyndale, trans, Bible, Luke XXII:
      Then entred Satan into Judas, whose syr name was iscariot (which was of the nombre off the twelve) and he went his waye, and commened with the hye prestes and officers, how he wolde betraye hym vnto them.
  2. (obsolete) To converse, talk.
    • 1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, II.ix:
      So long as Guyon with her commoned, / Vnto the ground she cast her modest eye [...].
    • Grafton
  3. (obsolete) To have sex.
  4. (obsolete) To participate.
    (Can we find and add a quotation of Sir Thomas More to this entry?)
  5. (obsolete) To have a joint right with others in common ground.
  6. (obsolete) To board together; to eat at a table in common.

Derived terms[edit]