party

Pronunciation

• IPA: UK /ˈpɑː.ti/, US /ˈpɑːr.t̬i/^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English partie (“part, side, group”), borrowed from Old French partie (“part, share; side; separation”),^[2][3][4] the noun use of the feminine past participle of partir (“to divide”),^[2][3] from Latin partīre or partīrī (“to share, divide”),^[2][5] from pars (“part, share”).^[2][4] Some senses, including the military and political ones, follow the later French masculine form parti.^[6][7] Etymonline traces the Latin noun to Proto-Indo-European *perə- (“to grant, allot”).^[2] The heraldic adjective party “divided into parts of different tinctures” comes from the same French participle.^[8][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

A part, division or portion, and a side, end or edge (probably before 1300, in Kyng Alisaunder).^[3][2]

Semantic evolution

In early use party often stands where modern English has part.^[2] About 1300 it came to mean those on one side in a contest, and in law a litigant or a person bound by an agreement,^[2][3] and also a number of people supporting a cause or person, the root of the political sense.^[2] Any group of people (early 14th century), a single person (mid-15th century) and a detachment of troops (1640s) followed.^[2][6] The sense “a gathering for social pleasure” is from 1716, from groups gathered for a purpose such as a dinner party or hunting party, and “a group doing something together” from 1773,^[2][3] and Barnhart takes both from French partie.^[3] The verb meant “to side with” (before 1639, now obsolete) and “to have a good time at parties” from 1922, in E. E. Cummings's letters.^[3][2] The party is over dates from 1937, and party pooper is American English of 1951.^[2]

Timeline

• before 1300 – a part, side, division (Kyng Alisaunder).^[3]
• c. 1300 – a side in a contest, a litigant, a faction.^[2][3]
• early 14th century – any group of people.^[2]
• mid-15th century – a person.^[2]
• before 1639 – verb, to side with.^[3]
• 1640s – a detachment of troops.^[2]
• 1716 – a social gathering.^[2][3]
• 1773 – a group doing something together.^[3]
• 1922 – verb, to have a good time at parties.^[3][2]
• 1937 – the party is over.^[2]
• 1951 – party pooper (American).^[2]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. A social gathering for pleasure or celebration.
2. A group of people taking part in an activity: a search party.
3. An organized political group that seeks to win public office for its candidates.
4. A person or group involved in a legal case or agreement: the parties to a contract.
5. A person who takes part in something: a party to the plot.
6. (informal) A person: the party in question.

Adjective

1. Of a political party: party politics.

Verb

1. To celebrate at parties.

Word family

• partyless
• biparty
• counterparty
• interparty
• multiparty
• nonparty
• subparty
• partyer

Related words

• part
• partisan
• partition
• depart

Usage notes

Party for “a particular individual” goes back to the 15th century and was once common.^[9] Today it is standard mainly in legal use and is otherwise often humorous or condescending, person being the neutral word.^[9][10]

References

1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
4. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (2000), 4th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
5. ^ The Chambers Dictionary (2008), 11th ed., Edinburgh: Chambers Harrap
6. ^ a b c Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
8. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ a b Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary (1999), 2nd ed., New York: Random House
10. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin