DictionaryRoot: -al
French
-al
connected with
Forms
- -al
Origin
French continued Latin -alis.
Note
Its contribution is a relationship whose precise nature depends on the base.
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adjective
banal
buh-NAHL/bəˈnɑːl/
Dull because it is ordinary and lacks originality.
Etymology
The connection with legal control ran through feudal usage: either shared ovens and mills or compulsory military service. The meaning broadened through 'open to everyone' to 'ordinary,' then 'trite.'