society
/səˈsaɪ.ə.ti/
Word Rarity
Common
Frequency: Zipf frequency 5.17 in modern English
12
Scrabble Score
7
Letters
4
Syllables
7
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
A long-standing group of people sharing cultural aspects such as language, dress, norms of behavior and artistic forms.
Countable
noun
A group of people who meet from time to time to engage in a common interest; an association or organization.
Countable
noun
A number of people joined by mutual consent to deliberate, determine and act toward a common goal.
Countable
Example Sentences
- "This society has been known for centuries for its colorful clothing and tight-knit family structure."
- "He draws eclectically on studies of baboons, descriptive anthropological accounts of hunter-gatherer societies and, in a few cases, the fossil record."
- "It was then that they decided to found a society of didgeridoo-playing unicyclists."
- "At half-past nine on this Saturday evening, the parlour of the Salutation Inn, High Holborn, contained most of its customary visitors.[…]In former days every tavern of repute kept such a room for its own select circle, a club, or society, of habitués, who met every evening, for a pipe and a cheerful glass."
- "The Stephenson Locomotive Society (North Western Area) and the Manchester Locomotive Society are co-operating in running a special corridor train, to be worked by an 0-6-0 locomotive of the former Lancashire & Yorkshire Railway, on Saturday, May 12, over a route which includes visits to four historic stations, ascent of the 1 in 27 Werneth Incline, and traversal of lines normally closed to passenger traffic."
- "The gap between Western and Eastern societies seems to be narrowing."
Etymology
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *sekʷ- Proto-Indo-European *-h₂ Proto-Indo-European *-éh₂ Proto-Indo-European *sokʷéh₂ Proto-Indo-European *-ṓy Proto-Indo-European *sokʷh₂ṓy Proto-Indo-European *-yós Proto-Indo-European *sokʷyós Proto-Italic *sokjos Latin sokios Latin socius Proto-Indo-European *-teh₂ Proto-Indo-European *-ts Proto-Indo-European *-teh₂ts Proto-Italic *-tāts Latin -tās Latin societāslbor. Old French societé Middle French societébor. English society Borrowed from Middle French societé, from Old French societé, from Latin societās, societātem (“fellowship, association, alliance, union, community”), from socius (“associated, allied; partner, companion, ally”), from Proto-Indo-European *sokʷ-yo- (“companion”), from Proto-Indo-European *sekʷ- (“to follow”). First attested in the 1530s.
Origin
- Source language: Middle French
- First known use: First attested in the 1530s
Word Breakdown
- Root: *sekʷ-, societé, societas, *sokʷ-yo-
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /səˈsaɪ.ə.ti/
- British English: /səˈsaɪ.ə.ti/
Usage
Inflected Forms
societies (plural)
soc. (alternative, abbreviation)