Aneity

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. The quality of existing independently, with no need for any other thing to cause or sustain it
2. Existence that depends on nothing outside itself, a self-sufficient state of being that needs no source
3. The condition of being self-existent and wholly independent of any external origin or support

Etymology: "Aneity" is an uncommon English noun for the state of being alone or solitary. Its ending, "-ity", is the common suffix that turns adjectives into abstract nouns, as in "rarity" and "sanity", so the word is best understood as a formation on a base meaning "one." The exact Latin source of the base is less certain. Its closest relatives are "unus", "one", which also gave English "unit" and "union", but the link to "aneity" is probably indirect, and the word appears to be a learned, rarely used coinage rather than one that passed through everyday speech.