Diversity

How to spell diversity

9 letters · 4 syllables

How to pronounce diversity

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does diversity mean?

1. nounThe state of having a wide range of different people, things, or qualities.

Diversity in a sentence

• The company values diversity in its hiring decisions.

• The region is known for the rich diversity of its plant and animal life.

Where does diversity come from?

Language of origin: Latin

The word descends from the Latin diversitas, meaning 'difference' or 'contrariety', which was built on the adjective diversus, literally 'turned in different directions'. That adjective is the past participle of divertere, formed from dis- 'apart' and vertere 'to turn', so the underlying image is of things turning away from one another rather than running together. English took the word in during the fourteenth century by way of the Old French diversite, where it first carried senses of difference, oddity, and even wickedness or perversity. Over the centuries the harsher edge fell away and the word settled into its modern, neutral meaning of variety or a range of different kinds. The same vertere 'to turn' root sits inside a whole family of relatives such as 'convert', 'reverse', and 'divert', and recognising that shared 'vers' element is a handy way to fix the spelling.

How the word is built

• di- (from dis-: apart, in different directions)
• vers (from vertere: to turn)
• -ity (noun-forming suffix)