Etymograph

English

standard

Standard comes from Middle English standard ‘a standard’, and goes back to Frankish *standahard.

  1. Frankishc. 250–700*standahard1literally ‘stand firm, stand hard’reconstructed
  2. Old Frenchc. 842–1400estandart1‘gathering place’
  3. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500standard1‘a standard’
  4. Englishearliest quotation c. 1590standard1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English standard
  2. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: c. 1590, Thomas Lodge, A Looking Glass for London: “Frolic, my lords; let all the standards walk, /…”.

Lineage

  1. Frankishc. 250–700*standahardWiktionary, English standardliterally ‘stand firm, stand hard’reconstructed
  2. Old Frenchc. 842–1400estandartWiktionary, English standard‘gathering place’
  3. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500standardWiktionary, English standard‘a standard’
  4. Englishearliest quotation c. 1590standardWiktionary, English standard. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: c. 1590, Thomas Lodge, A Looking Glass for London: “Frolic, my lords; let all the standards walk, /…”

The story

An alternative etymology derives the second element from Frankish *oʀd (‘point, spot, place’) (compare Old French ordé (‘pointed’), Old English ord (‘point, source, vanguard’), German Standort (“location, place, site, position, base”, literally “standing-point”)). Merged with Middle English standar, stander, standere (“flag, banner”, literally “stander”), equivalent to stand + -er.

Full etymology on Wiktionary

Every English word from Frankish *standahard

Today it means

adj Falling within an accepted range of size, amount, power, quality, etc.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “standard”. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.

Etymograph / Frankish *standahard / standard

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