Etymology

commonplace

com·mon·place
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Today it means: Ordinary; not having any remarkable characteristics. Full definition →

Latin locus commūnis ← Ancient Greek κοινὸς τόπος
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The story

  1. Ancient Greek · derived fromκοινὸς τόπος
  2. Latin · calque oflocus commūnis
  3. English todaycommonplace

A calque of Latin locus commūnis, referring to a generally applicable literary passage, itself a calque of Ancient Greek κοινὸς τόπος (koinòs tópos).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.