Rarity

How to spell rarity

6 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce rarity

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does rarity mean?

1. nounA thing that is valued or notable precisely because it is seldom found.
2. nounThe quality or state of being uncommon or infrequent.

Rarity in a sentence

• The dealer insisted the stamp was a genuine rarity worth thousands.

• The rarity of honest mechanics in the area made his shop very busy.

• A quiet weekend with no emails has become a real rarity in his life.

• Its high price reflects the sheer rarity of the metal in nature.

Where does rarity come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word goes back to the Latin adjective rarus, which originally meant 'thin', 'sparse', or 'widely spaced apart', as of threads in a loose weave or stalks in a thin field. From rarus the Romans formed the noun raritas, meaning 'thinness' or 'the state of being uncommon', and this is the direct ancestor of the modern term. English took the word in during the late 1500s, partly through French rarete and partly straight from the Latin, settling on the spelling that keeps a single r in the middle. The sense shifted naturally from 'thinly spread' to 'seldom found', and from there to the familiar idea of something precious because it so rarely turns up. The same rarus root still lives openly in the everyday adverb 'rarely', which is a useful reminder that the word is built on 'rare' plus a simple ending, not on any doubled consonant.

How the word is built

• rar- (from Latin rarus: thin, sparse, uncommon)
• -ity (noun-forming suffix denoting a quality or instance)