entity English · revision 7694

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=1596|origins=la ens}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /ˈɛn.tɪt.i/ ''(UK)''; /ˈɛn.tə.ti/ [-tʰi] ''(US)''^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is borrowed through [[m|frm|entité]] or directly from Medieval Latin [[m|la-med|entitas|t=being]],^(Barnhart 1988)^(NODE 1998) from Late Latin ens (genitive entis), a thing, being,^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988) which Caesar proposed as a present participle of esse, to be (see [[is]]),^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988)^(MWU 2024) to render the Greek philosophical term tò ón, that which is,^(Etymonline) from PIE [[ine-pro|*h₁es-|alt=*es-|t=to be]].^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Being, existence: 1596 in Barnhart, the OED and MWU;^(Barnhart 1988)^(OED 1989)^(MWU 2024) NODE dates the sense a thing's existence to the late 15th century.^(NODE 1998)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ It was originally abstract.^(Etymonline) The essential nature of a thing is from 1643,^(OED 1989) and the concrete sense, something that has real existence, is first recorded in 1628.^(Barnhart 1988)^(OED 1989) An actual quantity, however small, is an obsolete sense of 1626.^(OED 1989)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 1596 – being, existence.^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * 1626 – a quantity (obsolete).^(OED 1989)

+ * 1628 – a thing that exists.^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * 1643 – essential nature.^(OED 1989)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Noun===

+ # Something that exists as a separate and distinct unit.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # The fact of [[existence]]; being.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # The [[essence]] of something considered apart from its properties.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[entitatively]]

+ * [[nonentity]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[ens]]

+ * [[essence]]

+ * [[is]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}