Etymograph

English

parity

Parity comes from Late Latin paritās ‘parity, equality’, and goes back to Latin pār.

  1. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEpār‘equal’
  2. Late Latinc. 200–600 CEparitās‘parity, equality’
  3. Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600parité
  4. Englishearliest quotation 2000parity

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed

Earlier history uncertain.

Lineage

  1. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEpār‘equal’
  2. Late Latinc. 200–600 CEparitās‘parity, equality’
  3. Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600parité
  4. Englishearliest quotation 2000parity

Earliest quotation: 2000, Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Delta Guid, Pearson Education: “Altogether, Microsoft claims a 99% feature parity between 32-bit…”

Formed from pari- + -ty

Latin par ‘equal’

English pari-

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *perh₂- ‘to exchange, sell’

pornography, peerless, 7 more

through Latin pār ‘equal’

pair, peer, compare, par, umpire, 6 more

Another origin of parity

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*perh₃-‘to produce, beget’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*parjō‘to bear, give birth’reconstructed
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEpariō‘give birth’
  4. Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEparitas‘parity, equality’
  5. Englishtodayparity

Today it means

noun Equality; comparability of strength or intensity.

Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.

Etymograph / Latin pār / parity

Shirt and support for this word