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This is the first time I ever realized that mode is a French word.For colors, months, countries, brand names and any other kind of data that is not quantitative and has no order to it, there is no median, and instead the most common values (including the mode) and least common values are a good way to indicate what's typical and what's not.
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Apparently the source of mode is Latin modus. I can't determine how the English statistics term originated, but it is the same in French. Interestingly, it is the feminine noun that means fashion (restaurant à la mode) while the masculine noun is used in statistics, music, or to mean "way" or "method" (mode de vie, mode d'emploi).