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moiety

[moi-i-tee]
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noun, plural moi·e·ties.
  1. a half.
  2. an indefinite portion, part, or share.
  3. Anthropology. one of two units into which a tribe or community is divided on the basis of unilineal descent.
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Origin of moiety

1400–50; late Middle English moite < Middle French < Latin medietāt- (stem of medietās) the middle, equivalent to medi(us) mid + -etāt-, variant, after vowels, of -itāt- -ity
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Related Words

sharecomponentelementaffiliationportionpartfractionhalfpiece

Examples from the Web for moiety

Historical Examples

  • How is it only a moiety of these bodies that is represented?

    Leading Articles on Various Subjects

    Hugh Miller

  • He who gave her the money of which she e'en presented me a moiety.

    Under the Rose

    Frederic Stewart Isham

  • Out of abundance he had given a moiety and because of it she had put her life into a yoke.

    The Tyranny of Weakness

    Charles Neville Buck

  • There was more than a moiety of sadness, constantly increasing its measure.

  • It allowed Ralegh a moiety of the penalties accruing to the Crown.

    Sir Walter Ralegh

    William Stebbing

British Dictionary definitions for moiety

moiety

noun plural -ties archaic
  1. a half
  2. one of two parts or divisions of something
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Word Origin

C15: from Old French moitié, from Latin mediētās middle, from medius
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for moiety

n.

"an equal half," mid-15c., from Old French moite, earlier meitiet (12c., Modern French moitié) "half; middle; portion, piece," from Latin meditatem (nominative medietas) "half," originally "middle point," from medius "middle" (see medial (adj.)).

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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
moiety in Medicine

moiety

(moi′ĭ-tē)
n.
  1. One of two or more parts into which something may be divided, such as the various parts of a vitamin or molecule.
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The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.