moiety
/ˈmɔɪ.ə.ti/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 2.59 in modern English
11
Scrabble Score
6
Letters
3
Syllables
6
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
A half.
noun
A share or portion, especially a smaller share.
noun
Each descent group in a culture which is divided exactly into two descent groups.
Example Sentences
- "They were faire Ladies, till they fondly ſtriu’d / With th’Heliconian maides for mayſtery; / Of whom they ouer-comen, were depriu’d / Of their proud beautie, and th’one moyity / Transform’d to fiſh, for their bold ſurquedry, / But th’vpper halfe their hew retayned ſtill, / And their ſweet skill in wonted melody; / Which euer after they abuſd to ill, / T’allure weake traueillers, whom gotten they did kill."
- "The death of Anthony / Is not a ſingle doome. In the name lay / A moity of the world."
- "[E]very merchant and paſſenger, that brings merchandizes into this land of Ireland out of England to the ſumme of one hundred pounds, that he ſhall buy and bring with him into the ſaid land in bowes to the value of one hundred ſhillings, […] and if any merchant or paſſenger bring any merchandize into the ſaid land, and bring with him no bowes as is afore rehearſed, that the ſaid merchant ſhall loſe and pay the value of the ſaid bowes, the one moietie thereof to the King, and the other moiety to the ſearchers of the ſame for the time being; […]"
- "From New Holland the emeu, / With his better moiety, / Has paid a visit to the Zo- / ological Society."
- "Suffer she must; but there are degrees of pain, and the whole catalogue of miseries which man, either from design or carelessness, inflicts on his weaker moiety, is trifling when compared to jealousy, as man himself occasionally knows from bitter experience."
- "Forty-eight inventories in the Cornwall sample include references to ‘moieties’ or halves of livestock and crops, while a quarter of these also included moieties of farm equipment and household stock. For example, Richard Cooke of Madron, in 1617, besides stock, stuff and equipment which he fully owned, left 1 moiety of a 2 year old heifer, 13s 4d; 1 moiety of ½ year beasts and advantage, 26s 8d; 3 moieties of horse, 50s; […]"
Etymology
Borrowed from Middle French moytié, from Old French meitié (“half”) (modern French moitié (“half”)), from Late Latin medietās (“centre, midpoint; half”), from Latin medius (“half; middle”) + -tās (from Proto-Indo-European *-teh₂ts (suffix forming nouns indicating a state of being)). Medius is ultimately derived from Proto-Indo-European *médʰyos (“middle”), possibly from *me-dʰi- (“among; with”), from *me (“in the middle of; among; with”). The word is a doublet of mediety.
Origin
Word Breakdown
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ˈmɔɪ.ə.ti/
- British English: /ˈmɔɪ.ə.ti/