Communal
/kəˈmjuː.nəl/noun
Shared by or for a group of people, especially a community.
Did you know?Communal comes through French from Latin *communis*, a word tied to shared obligation and common possession, which is also the ancestor of words like *common* and *communicate*.
Etymological Timeline
Proto-Indo-European
PIE
*mey-
“to exchange, share, or change”
Latin
Latin
communis
“common, shared by all, public”
Late Latin
Latin
communalis
“pertaining to the community or common ownership”
Old French
Old French
communal
“of or belonging to a community”
14th–15th Century
English
communal
“shared by a community; public or collective”
Modern English
English
communal
“shared or used by a group rather than privately owned”
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