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Both normalcy and normality have the definition of "the state of being normal."

From Wiktionary:
Normalcy - "The state of being normal; the fact of being normal; normality."
Normality - "The state of being normal or usual; normalcy."

Is there any functional difference between them?

For example in the sentence:
After a month of extravagant spending, Sam's life returned to ____ .
which is preferable?

Kys
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  • Both words date from the mid-nineteenth century, possibly from the French normalité Normalcy is almost never used in Britain, where normality is the norm. However normalcy has wide currency in the United States, though I am informed that it is less prevalent than normality. – WS2 Jun 06 '16 at 20:09
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    I'm a US speaker and tend to prefer normalcy. Yet, I would always use abnormality over abnormalcy. – Kys Jun 06 '16 at 20:15
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    @WS2 'Normalcy' was never a word until Harding used it as a malapropism in a speech in the 20's 'Return to Normalcy'. Because of that one usage, it has become an accepted ter, in the US, even though 'normality' is preferred. – Mitch Jun 06 '16 at 20:15
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    I would just say "Sam's life returned to normal." – 200_success Jun 06 '16 at 20:36
  • @Mitch The OED has two examples, from 1857, and 1893, as well as the Harding one from 1920. *1857 C. Davies & W. G. Peck Math. Dict. 386 If we denote the co-ordinates of the point of contact, and normalcy, by x″ and y″.

    1893 Nation 30 July 47/1 Believers..in the mathematical normalcy of the female mind.

    1920 W. G. Harding in F. L. Allen Only Yesterday (1931) ii. 41 America's present need is not heroics but healing; not nostrums but normalcy; not revolution but restoration.*

     – WS2 Jun 06 '16 at 20:49
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    @WS2 Exactly, and I doubt Harding wanted America to return to a state of right angles... – Alan Carmack Jun 06 '16 at 21:39
  • I would certainly have to think twice if I read or heard the word "normalcy". It's certainly not in common UK usage as @WS2 has said. – TrevorD Jun 06 '16 at 23:08
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    @TrevorD OED says: Regarded by H. W. Fowler as ‘a hybrid derivative of the “spurious hybrid” class..[which] seems to have nothing to recommend it’ ( Dict. Mod. Eng. Usage (1926) 382/2). According to Burchfield ‘Normalcy and normality stand side by side in AmE as legitimate alternatives. In BrE normality is the customary term, and normalcy is widely scorned.’ ( Fowler's Mod. Eng. Usage (1996) 528/1). – WS2 Jun 07 '16 at 06:44
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    Related: In Britain the word normalcy is ridiculed – Andrew Leach Jun 07 '16 at 14:27
  • In mathematics, there is the topological property of normality. It is not, to my knowledge, ever called normalcy. Perhaps that is why "normalcy" looks to me abnormal. – Airymouse Dec 04 '16 at 15:32
  • The OED has normal in usage from 1530 in its mathematical usage – Michael Nov 15 '17 at 11:07
  • See also a similar question in Quora. – Harry Audus Mar 01 '21 at 01:26

3 Answers3

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An interesting comment from 1929 is given in the Oxford English Dictionary:

If..‘normalcy’ is ever to become an accepted word it will presumably be because the late President Harding did not know any better.

OED gives the author as G. N. Clark, writing for the Society for Pure English.

"Normality" means the state of being normal.

"Normalcy" was used by Warren G. Harding in his 1920 election campaign called "Return to Normalcy." When pointed out that the word was a mistake, Harding said he couldn't find the word "normality" in his dictionary. Before his gaff, "normalcy" was used as a mathematics term. In the 90 years since Harding misspoke, the term "normalcy" has become widespread (in the USA, at least) either as an example of a mistake or as a valid synonym for "normality."

I suggest not using "normalcy" unless you know what you are doing, because it is still seen by many as a sign of ill-education.

normalcy
1857, "mathematical condition of being at right angles," from normal + -cy. Associated since c. 1920 with U.S. president Warren G. Harding and derided as an example of his incompetent speaking style. Previously used mostly in the mathematical sense. The word preferred by purists for "a normal situation" is normality (1849).

(Source: Etymology Online)

Harding's usage:

America’s present need is not heroics, but healing; not nostrums, but normalcy; not revolution, but restoration; not agitation, but adjustment; not surgery, but serenity; not the dramatic, but the dispassionate; not experiment, but equipoise; not submergence in internationality, but sustainment in triumphant nationality.

Alan Carmack
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Fowler's Modern English Usage, 3rd edition:

It may come as a surprise to many people that the competing abstract nouns normalcy, normality, and normalness all entered the language at approximately the same time, in the middle of the 19C. The surprise is perhaps reduced when it is noticed that the adj. normal itself, though recorded in the 17C. in the sense of 'rectangular', did not acquire its modern everyday meaning until about 1840. So what we are dealing with here is a group of modern words that has hardly had time for the customary processes of assimilation or rejection to have taken their course.

What is interesting is to look at two different dictionaries from 1828: 1) Johnson and Walker's Dictionary of the English Language, and 2) Webster's.

Cerberus - Reinstate Monica
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Kent Stringham
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The obvious answer should be use of the noun "normal." There is no need for either "normalcy" (which is not a word) or "normality."

KillingTime
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user385322
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    Well, if word brevity is to be the criterion, why not dump the noun 'normal' in favour of 'norm'? – Harry Audus Mar 01 '21 at 01:27
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    @HarryAudus I like your suggestion (+1), but unfortunately it would need the definite article to fit in the blank in OP's sentence: "return to the norm." This would add 3 extra letters and bring the count up to one more letter than if you'd used the word 'normal' :D – Quack E. Duck Jul 07 '23 at 04:45
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    @Quack: I was responding to answer #2, 'The obvious answer should be use of the noun "normal."', not suggesting that "norm" replace "normalcy" or "normality" but "normal". – Harry Audus Jul 08 '23 at 06:03