The word 一般 is formed through a conceptual metaphor where two characters combine to create an abstract meaning. The character 一 (yī) means "one", and 般 (bān) in classical Chinese means "sort" or "kind". Literally, the compound suggests "of one kind" or "the same sort". This notion of uniformity and sameness was then extended metaphorically to convey the ideas of "ordinary" (being like everything else of its kind), "common", and "generally" (applying in a same or uniform way).