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DictionaryRoot: -itas
Latin

-itas

a quality or state

Forms

  • -itas
  • -itat- — Latin stem used outside the basic noun form.
  • -ity — English form developed through French.

Origin

Latin -tas, a suffix for abstract nouns, with a preceding i; the suffix continues an older Indo-European abstract-noun formation.

Note

Turns a description into something that can be discussed as a quality in its own right.

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The same familiar kind of pigeon appears across three clearly different urban settings: a café terrace, a railway platform, and an apartment balcony.
noun

ubiquity

yoo-BIK-wuh-tee/juːˈbɪkwəti/

Presence everywhere or in many places.

Etymology
ubiLatinwhere
+quLatinever, giving universal force
+ityLatina quality or state

“Where” plus a universalizing ending gives “everywhere.” Ubiquity originally described divine omnipresence; the selected sense applies that idea to something so widespread that it seems to be everywhere.

Full entry

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