Durchschnittlicher

Durchschnittlicher is the inflected form of the German adjective durchschnittlich and means "average" or "typical." It is used to describe things that are not exceptional but lie near the center of a distribution or are representative of a group. The form of average used before a noun changes with gender, number, and case, following the usual German adjective declension.

In practice, durchschnittlicher appears in attributive position, for example: ein durchschnittlicher Mann (masculine, nominative), eine durchschnittliche Frau (feminine, nominative), ein durchschnittliches Gehalt (neuter, nominative). Plural forms include die durchschnittlichen Werte. The choice of ending also depends on the definite or indefinite article and the case, in line with standard German grammar.

In statistics and everyday language, das Durchschnitt (the noun) denotes the mean or average value, while durchschnittlich describes something as typical or representative rather than exceptional. For instance, man spricht von einem durchschnittlichen Verbrauch, durchschnittlichen Kosten oder einem durchschnittlichen Einkommen. The adjective can apply to people, situations, measurements, or behaviors to convey normality or regularity.

Usage notes: durchschnittlicher is most common in descriptive, non-emphatic contexts, where the goal is to convey typicality or central tendency. It should not be confused with the noun Durchschnitt or with adverbial usage formed by durchschnittlich, which modifies verbs or adjectives to mean "typically" or "on average."