n. pl. priv·i·ties
1. Knowledge of something private or secret shared between individuals, especially with the implication of approval or consent.
2. Law A relation of interest or identity between parties close enough to make one party subject to a suit on a claim against the other or conferred with the same rights and obligations as the other.
[Middle English privete, secrecy, privacy, from Old French, from Medieval Latin prīvitās, from Latin prīvus, single, alone; see per1 in the Appendix of Indo-European roots.]
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition copyright ©2019 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
Indo-European & Semitic Roots Appendices
Thousands of entries in the dictionary include etymologies that trace their origins back to reconstructed proto-languages. You can obtain more information about these forms in our online appendices:
The Indo-European appendix covers nearly half of the Indo-European roots that have left their mark on English words. A more complete treatment of Indo-European roots and the English words derived from them is available in our Dictionary of Indo-European Roots.