routine

What it means

1. countableuncountableA course of action to be followed regularly; a standard procedure.

   Synonyms: habit, wont, ritual

2. countableuncountableA set of normal procedures, often performed mechanically.

   Connie was completely robotic and emotionless by age 12; her entire life had become one big routine.

   1 more example

   It is never possible to settle down to the ordinary routine of life at sea until the screw begins to revolve. There is an hour or two, after the passengers have embarked, which is disquieting and fussy.

   1915, G[eorge] A. Birmingham [pseudonym; James Owen Hannay], chapter I, in Gossamer, New York, N.Y.: George H. Doran Company, →OCLC

   Synonyms: rut

3. countableuncountableA set piece of an entertainer's act.

   stand-up comedy routine

In a sentence

Connie was completely robotic and emotionless by age 12; her entire life had become one big routine.

Where it comes from

1. Latinrupta via
2. Englishroutine

Unadapted borrowing from French routine. By surface analysis, route + -ine. Further from Latin rupta via. Compare typologically travel << Latin tripālium, whence also travail, note the inverse semantic vector from a subjective state (toil) to an objective action (journey). Also compare Czech běžný (< běžet), Russian обихо́д (obixód), обихо́дный (obixódnyj) (akin to ходи́ть (xodítʹ)).