diversity English · revision 5994

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=before 1340|origins=la diversitas}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: UK /daɪˈvɜː.sə.ti/, /dɪˈvɜː.sə.ti/, US /dɪˈvɝː.sə.t̬i/, /daɪˈvɝː.sə.t̬i/^(Roach et al. 2011)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is Middle English diversite, [[bor|fro|diversité|t=difference, diversity; oddness; wickedness]],^(Etymonline)^(SOED 2002)^(NODE 1998) from [[la|dīversitās|t=contrariety, disagreement; difference]] (accusative diversitatem),^(Etymonline)^(MWU 2024) from dīversus “turned different ways”, the past participle of dīvertere “to turn aside”.^(Etymonline)^(NODE 1998) See [[diverse]] and [[divert]].^(NODE 1998)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ The condition of being different or varied: before 1340 in the OED, the mid-14th century in Etymonline.^(OED 1989)^(Etymonline) A point of unlikeness is from about 1340.^(OED 1989)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ A negative sense, perversity or evil, existed from the late 14th century but was obsolete by the 17th;^(Etymonline) the OED has it from 1483.^(OED 1989) Etymonline notes that diversity as a virtue in a nation was an idea of the 1790s, when it was thought to keep one faction from taking all power, but that this was not yet the modern sense.^(Etymonline) The inclusion of people of different races, genders and religions in a group is a recent sense.^(Collins 2023) In radio, diversity reception, using several aerials to reduce fading, is from 1930.^(OED 1989)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * before 1340 – difference, variety.^(OED 1989)

+ * 1483 – perversity, evil (obsolete).^(OED 1989)

+ * 1790s – diversity as a political virtue.^(Etymonline)

+ * 1930 – diversity reception in radio.^(OED 1989)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Noun===

+ # The state of being varied or different; [[variety]]: ''a diversity of opinions''.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # The inclusion of people of different races, cultures, genders or religions in a group.^(Collins 2023)

+ # A point in which things differ.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[biodiversity]]

+ * [[overdiversity]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[diverse]]

+ * [[divert]]

+ * [[divers]]

+ * [[diversify]]

+ * [[diversion]]

+ * [[verse]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}