Parity

How to spell parity

6 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce parity

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does parity mean?

1. nounThe state of being equal, especially in status, value, or amount.
2. nounAn equal value or exchange rate between two currencies or financial instruments.
3. nounA check that uses an extra bit to keep the number of set bits even or odd, used to detect data errors.

Parity in a sentence

• The union demanded pay parity between the two factories.

• The euro briefly reached parity with the dollar last autumn.

• The memory module reported a parity error during the overnight test.

• Campaigners are still fighting for gender parity in senior management.

• Traders watched closely as the two currencies approached parity.

• The old serial connection added a parity bit to catch transmission faults.

Where does parity come from?

Language of origin: Latin

Parity comes from the Latin paritas, meaning 'equality' or 'the state of being equal', which was built on the adjective par, literally 'equal' or 'even'. That same par sits inside many familiar English words: 'pair' (two equal things), 'compare' (to set equal things side by side), and 'peer' (an equal). English borrowed parity in the early 1600s, at first to express the abstract idea of equal standing or rank. From there it spread into specialised fields, taking on technical senses in finance (an equal exchange rate between currencies), in computing (a check that keeps the count of bits even or odd), and in medicine (the number of times a woman has given birth). The spelling trap is the unstressed middle vowel and the single r: writers often hesitate over whether to double the r, but because the root is the short Latin par, only one r is correct.

How the word is built

• par- (from Latin par: equal)
• -ity (noun-forming suffix denoting state or quality)