Ubiquitas

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. The state or condition of being everywhere at once or widely present
2. the quality of existing or occurring simultaneously in multiple places
3. a characteristic of being pervasive and universally encountered in various contexts

Etymology: "Ubiquitas" is the Latin noun from which English "ubiquity" is formed. It is built from "ubique," meaning "everywhere" or "in every place," which combines "ubi" ("where") with the suffix "-que" ("and" or "also"), so the literal sense is roughly "where-and-also," or everywhere. The "-itas" ending is the standard Latin suffix that turns an adjective into an abstract noun of quality, as in "bonitas" from "bonus," so "ubiquitas" means "the state of being everywhere." Latin writers used the word sparingly, and it was never a common term in classical texts. English took "ubiquity" from it in the 19th century, and the English form comes through the adjective "ubiquitous," which was coined from the same Latin base. The Latin term is best understood as a learned formation rather than a word with a long popular history, so the surprise lies less in its origin than in how neatly its literal "where-and-also" sense still shows through in the English meaning.

Synonyms: ubiquity, omnipresence, everywhere-ness

Antonyms: rarity, scarcity