From Latin 'enormis' (out of rule) — 'e-' + 'norma' (standard). Originally meaning wildly deviant, later just 'very large.'
Very large in size, quantity, or extent; immense.
From Latin 'enormis' (out of rule, irregular, monstrous, immense), from 'e-/ex-' (out of, beyond) + 'norma' (a carpenter's square, a rule, a pattern, a standard), from a probable PIE root *gnō- (to know, to recognize) via the tool that embodies correct proportion and right angles. The original force of 'enormous' was moral and qualitative: something 'enormous' had broken free of the norm, deviated from pattern — it was 'abnormal' in the sense of being monstrous or outrageous as much as simply large. This morally loaded sense persisted in
'Enormity' originally meant 'extreme wickedness' (being outside moral norms), not 'extreme size.' Using it to mean 'hugeness' was considered an error for centuries, though this usage is now widely accepted — a case where the word followed 'enormous' into its new, purely physical meaning.