Banal means so ordinary that it is boring. A banal remark, banal and predictable, utterly banal.
It is a criticism of writing, art and conversation, and it says the thing is not merely dull but obvious — banality is the failure to say anything that needed saying. Note the pronunciation, which is usually buh-NAHL; and that the French word first meant held in common, from feudal facilities everybody had to use.
1adjectivebanalSo ordinary that it is boring.
“The film had beautiful pictures but a banal story.”
banal is a quality of dullness.
French banal first meant open to all, from feudal ovens and mills the whole village had to use. Common use became commonplace.
Proto-Indo-European
*bʰeh₂-
Proto-Germanic
*bannaną — to order, summon, forbid
Latin
bannus — jurisdiction
Medieval Latin
bannālis — subject to feudal authority
Old French
banel
English, today
banal
Borrowed from French banal (“held in common, relating to feudal service, by extension commonplace”), from Old French banel, related to Medieval Latin bannālis (“subject to feudal authority”), from Latin bannus (“jurisdiction”), both ultimately from Proto-Germanic bannaną (“to order, summon, forbid”). Equivalent to ban + -al. See also ban, abandon.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA