natural

The story

1. Latin · derived fromnātūrālis
2. Old French · derived fromnatural
3. Middle English · inherited fromnatural
4. English todaynatural

Inherited from Middle English natural, borrowed from Old French natural, naturel, from Latin nātūrālis, from nātus, the perfect participle of nāscor (“be born”, verb). Displaced native Old English ġecynde. By surface analysis, natur(e) + -al.

Words from the same roots

First known use, by meaning

• from 14th c. Existing in the nature of a person or thing; innate, not acquired or learned.
• from 14th c. Normally associated with a particular person or thing; inherently related to the nature of a thing or creature.
• from 14th c. As expected; reasonable, normal; naturally arising from the given circumstances.
• from 15th c. Formed by nature; not manufactured or created by artificial processes.
• from 16th c. Pertaining to death brought about by disease or old age, rather than by violence, accident etc.
• from 16th c. Having an innate ability to fill a given role or profession, or display a specified character.
• from 17th c. Designating a standard trigonometric function of an angle, as opposed to the logarithmic function.
• from 18th c. Neither sharp nor flat. Denoted ♮.