Durchschnittlichen

Durchschnittlichen is the attributive inflected form of the German adjective durchschnittlich, meaning average or typical. It is used to describe a noun directly and must agree with the noun’s gender, number, and case. The ending -en appears in several common forms, such as den durchschnittlichen Wert (masculine singular, accusative) or einem durchschnittlichen Wert (masculine singular, dative), and in the plural after a definite determiner (die durchschnittlichen Werte).

Etymology and meaning: durchschnittlich is derived from durchschnitt, meaning the mean or middle, with the adjectival suffix -lich. The noun Durchschnitt itself comes from durch- (through) and Schnitt (cut), historically referring to a cut through a line or a middle point, and figuratively to the average or typical value. As an adjective, durchschnittlich conveys the sense of “average, typical, ordinary” rather than exceptional.

Usage notes: In German, attributive adjectives like durchschnittlich decline to reflect the noun they modify. In plural with a definite article, the form is typically durchschnittlichen (die durchschnittlichen Werte). In the singular, endings vary by gender and case (einen durchschnittlichen Wert, einem durchschnittlichen Tag, die durchschnittliche Temperatur, etc.). The predicative form is durchschnittlich, not durchschnittlichen (Der Wert ist durchschnittlich).

See also: durchschnitt, durchschnittlich, mean, statistics, German declension.