rarity

WOTD – 1 October 2008    

English

Etymology

Latin rāritās; compare French rareté. See also rare.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA: /ˈɹɛə.ɹə.tɪ/
• (US) IPA: /ˈɹɛɹ.ə.ti/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

Noun

rarity (plural rarities)

1. A measure of the scarcity of an object.
2. (chemistry, of a gas) Thinness; the property of having low density
   • 1927, H. P. Lovecraft, The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath:

     Only the increasing rarity bothered him, and he thought that perhaps it was this which had turned the heads of other travellers and excited those absurd tales of night-gaunts whereby they explained the loss of such climbers as fell from these perilous paths.

3. A rare object.

Synonyms

• rareness

Related terms

• rare
• rarely

Translations

measure of the scarcity of an object

• Czech: vzácnost (cs) f
• Estonian: haruldus (et)
• Finnish: harvinaisuus (fi)
• German: Seltenheit (de) f
• Hungarian: ritkaság (hu)
• Italian: scarsità (it) f
• Latin: rāritās (la) f

• Lithuanian: retumas (lt) m
• Maori: onge (mi)
• Polish: rzadkość (pl) f
• Russian: редкость (ru) (rédkostʹ) f
• Serbo-Croatian: rijétkōst (sh) f, rarìtēt (sh) m
• Spanish: raridad (es) f, rareza (es) f
• Swedish: sällsynthet (sv), rarhet (sv)

rare object

• Czech: vzácnost (cs) f
• Estonian: haruldus (et)
• Finnish: harvinaisuus (fi)
• French: rareté (fr) f
• German: Seltenheit (de) f, Rarität (de) f
• Hungarian: ritkaság (hu), kuriózum (hu)
• Italian: rarità (it) f
• Latin: rāritās (la) f

• Latvian: retums (lv) m
• Lithuanian: retenybė (lt) f
• Maori: onge (mi)
• Polish: rarytas (pl) m, biały kruk (pl) m
• Russian: редкость (ru) (rédkostʹ) f, раритет (ru) (raritét) m
• Serbo-Croatian: rijétkōst (sh) f, rarìtēt (sh) m
• Spanish: rareza (es) f
• Swedish: raritet (sv)
• Telugu: వింత (te) (vinta)

References

• rarity in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913