Origin: French suffix -age
Average has 16 different meanings across 3 categories:
(sports) the ratio of successful performances to opportunities
"After the season, the coach analyzed how the team's average shooting percentage dropped significantly during overtime games."
an intermediate scale value regarded as normal or usual
"he is about average in height"
"the snowfall this month is below average"
The arithmetic mean.
"After paying his rent in coin, the tenant still had to provide an average for the lord's personal farm work."
The service that a tenant owed his lord, to be done by the animals of the tenant, such as the transportation of wheat, turf, etc.
In plain English: An average is a single number that represents the typical value of a group by adding everything up and dividing by how many things there are.
"The average salary for entry-level software engineers in this city is quite high."
Usage: Do not use "average" as a noun to mean a feudal labor obligation; instead, it refers to the typical value or quality found in a group. When discussing historical duties like transporting goods for a lord, use specific terms such as "corvée" or "servitude."
amount to or come to an average, without loss or gain
"The number of hours I work per work averages out to 40"
compute the average of
"The teacher asked us to compute the average of our last five math test scores."
To compute the average of, especially the arithmetic mean.
"The teacher asked us to average our test scores from the last three exams to see if we were improving overall."
In plain English: To average something means to find the middle number by adding up all the values and dividing by how many there are.
"We need to average our test scores to get into the program."
Usage: Use "average" as a verb when you calculate the central value of a set of numbers by adding them together and dividing by the count. This action specifically refers to finding the arithmetic mean rather than describing something as typical or ordinary.
around the middle of a scale of evaluation
"an orange of average size"
"intermediate capacity"
"medium bombers"
Constituting or relating to the average.
"The results of our survey were typical, showing that most customers found the service to be average in quality."
In plain English: Average means something that is typical or right in the middle, not too high and not too low.
"The average student passed the test without any trouble."
Usage: Use "average" as an adjective to describe something that is typical, ordinary, or neither particularly good nor bad. Do not confuse this common usage with its mathematical definition when referring specifically to a calculated mean.
The word average originally meant a mean or typical value before it evolved into its modern sense of mediocrity. The English suffix -age was later added to the term in analogy with other words like damage, though this change did not alter the core meaning of the root.