moiety
/ˈmɔɪ.ə.ti/ noun
Forms moieties moietie moyity
- noun A half.
- noun A share or portion, especially a smaller share.
- noun (anthropology) Each descent group in a culture which is divided exactly into two descent groups.
- noun (chemistry) A specific segment of a molecule. “Aniline has both a phenyl and an amino moiety.”
Synonyms
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.
Webster’s 1913
- noun One of two equal parts; a half; as, a moiety of an estate, of goods, or of profits; the moiety of a jury, or of a nation. Shak.
- noun An indefinite part; a small part. Shak.
Etymology [F. moitié, L. medietas, fr. medius middle, half. See Mid, a., and cf. Mediate, Mediety.]
Sources: Wiktionary · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “moiety”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details