Mediety

Part of speech: noun

Pronunciation: /mɪˈdaɪ.ɪti/

Definitions

1. The condition of being partial, incomplete, or holding only part of a whole
2. A state characterized by partiality or lacking completeness in extent or degree
3. The quality of exhibiting partial presence or incompleteness rather than fullness

Etymology: Mediety comes from the Latin "medietas," meaning "middle" or "half," built on "medius," the everyday Latin word for "middle." English borrowed it in its late Middle English form "medietee," which meant "a half." The word has a close twin: "moiety," which came into English through Old French from the same Latin root. The two arrived by different routes, so one kept the French-shaped ending while the other kept a Latin-shaped one. Over the centuries the word narrowed from the plain sense of a half to the more abstract idea of being only partly present or complete. Today it is rare, and it is used mainly for the state of holding just part of something rather than the whole. Its sense has moved from a measurable half toward a condition of incompleteness.