Mortality

Part of speech: noun

Pronunciation: /mɔɹˈtælɪti/

Definitions

1. The state of being mortal or liable to die ; the rate or frequency at which deaths occur in a specific group
2. The quality of having a finite lifespan and inevitably dying ; a statistical measure of how many individuals die within a certain population
3. The fact that all living things eventually die ; an index reflecting death rates among a group of people or organisms

Etymology: The Latin "mors," meaning "death," is the root of a whole family of English words, and "mortality" is one of its longest-lived branches. Latin built "mortālitās" from "mortālis," an adjective meaning "subject to death" or "relating to death," itself formed from "mors." The abstract ending "-itās" turns the adjective into a noun for the quality or condition described, so the word began as a state of being mortal rather than a statistic or a sad event. The word reached English through Old French "mortalite," which carried the same sense of the condition of being subject to death. Its modern meaning as the fact of dying is closest to that original Latin core, and it sits alongside "mortal," the adjective it grew from, which English borrowed from the same source.

Synonyms: death, fatality, humanity, impermanence, perishability

Antonyms: immortality, eternity, perpetuity, everlastingness, continuity