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“banal”
banal (buh NAL, BAY nuhl, buh NAHL) (adjective), more banal, most banal
1. Descriptive of something boring, unoriginal, or stale: There were no new ideas in the politician's banal speech.
2. Dull, especially due to overuse or over familiarity: The editor rejected the author's work because it was too trite and banal.
3. Etymology: banal comes from an old meaning of ban, "force of vassals called to arms", hence, "common folk".
![Pertaining to a desire for something that is not trite or lacking freshness.](http://www.wordinfo.info/words/images/banal-1.jpg)
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![A reference to the lack of anything new or original](http://www.wordinfo.info/words/images/banal-2.jpg)
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2. Dull, especially due to overuse or over familiarity: The editor rejected the author's work because it was too trite and banal.
3. Etymology: banal comes from an old meaning of ban, "force of vassals called to arms", hence, "common folk".
The ending -al was later added to form an adjective: banal. In medieval France and England, a banal mill was a mill where feudal tenants were legally obliged to have their wheat ground, and the banal oven was where bread was baked; at rates fixed by the landlord.
The word almost died out, but was revived in the 18th-century journalese as a synonym for "vulgar" or "commonplace" from its association with the common people. It has been generalized through "open to everyone" to "commonplace, ordinary", then to "trite, petty".
![Pertaining to a desire for something that is not trite or lacking freshness.](http://www.wordinfo.info/words/images/banal-1.jpg)
![A reference to the lack of anything new or original](http://www.wordinfo.info/words/images/banal-2.jpg)
Go to this Word A Day Revisited Index
so you can see more of Mickey Bach's cartoons.
This entry is located in the following unit:
English Words in Action, Group B
(page 2)
A reference to something that is boring, trite, unoriginal, or of no interest to others. (2)
This entry is located in the following unit:
Word a Day Revisited Index of Cartoons Illustrating the Meanings of Words
(page 17)