Origin: Germanic Old English suffix
Random has 3 different meanings across 1 category:
A roving motion; course without definite direction; lack of rule or method; chance.
"The cat's gaze darted in a random pattern across the room before finally landing on the dust bunny."
In plain English: A random thing is something that happens without any pattern or plan.
"She decided to pick a random number from the hat to choose the winner."
lacking any definite plan or order or purpose; governed by or depending on chance
"a random choice"
"bombs fell at random"
"random movements"
Having unpredictable outcomes and, in the ideal case, all outcomes equally probable; resulting from such selection; lacking statistical correlation.
"The lottery numbers are completely random, ensuring that every combination has an equal chance of being drawn without any predictable pattern."
In plain English: Random means something that happens without any plan or pattern, so you can't guess what will come next.
"We decided to pick a random restaurant for dinner."
Usage: Use "random" to describe selections where every option has an equal chance of being chosen without any predictable pattern or bias. Avoid confusing this with haphazard choices that lack order but do not necessarily follow a uniform probability distribution.
The word "random" comes from the Old French randon, which originally meant a gallop or a long ride on horseback. It entered English in the late 14th century with this specific sense of an uncontrolled, hasty movement before its meaning broadened to include anything chosen without method or plan.