familiarity

English

Etymology

From Middle French familiarité, from Latin familiāritātem. Displaced native Old English hīwcūþnes. Morphologically familiar +‎ -ity.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /fəmɪliˈæɹɪti/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• (colloquial) IPA^(key): /fəmɪˈljæɹɪti/
• Rhymes: -æɹɪti

Noun

familiarity (countable and uncountable, plural familiarities)

1. The state of being extremely friendly; intimacy.
   • 1603, Michel de Montaigne, chapter 8, in John Florio, transl., The Essayes […], book II, London: […] Val[entine] Simmes for Edward Blount […], →OCLC:

     It is also folly and injustice to deprive children […] of their fathers familiaritie, and ever to shew them a surly, austere, grim, and disdainefull countenance, hoping thereby to keepe them in awfull feare and duteous obedience.

   • 1677, Hannah Woolley, The Compleat Servant-Maid‎^[1], London: T. Passinger, page 2:

     Do not keep familiarity with any but those, with whom you may improve your time.

2. Undue intimacy; inappropriate informality, impertinence.
   • 1927, G K Chesterton, The Return of Don Quixote, page 5:

     Murrel did not in the least object to being called a monkey, yet he always felt a slight distaste when Julian Archer called him one. […] It had to do with a fine shade between familiarity and intimacy which men like Murrel are never ready to disregard, however ready they may be to black their faces.

3. An instance of familiar behaviour.
   • 2003, Christopher Paolini, “Dragon Tales”, in Eragon, pages 22-23:

     The gaunt men carried swords and daggers with a new familiarity, and even the women had poniards belted at their waists.

5. Close or habitual acquaintance with someone or something; understanding or recognition acquired from experience.
   • 1837, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], “The Influence of the Dead”, in Ethel Churchill: Or, The Two Brides. […], volume II, London: Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC, page 269:

     The objects around have been seen so often, that they have at last become, as it were, unseen; their familiarity does not carry us out of ourselves, for all their associations are our own.

Derived terms

• familiarity breeds contempt
• hyperfamiliarity
• nonfamiliarity
• overfamiliarity
• unfamiliarity

Translations

the state of being extremely friendly; intimacy

• Bulgarian: интимност (bg) f (intimnost)
• Catalan: familiaritat f, intimitat f, confiança (ca) f
• French: familiarité (fr) f
• German: Vertrautheit (de) f
• Hebrew: קרבה (he) f (kirvá), היכרות קרובה f (hekerút krová), מוכרות f (mukarút), קריבות f (krivút)
• Latin: conversātiō f
• Portuguese: familiaridade (pt) f
• Romanian: familiaritate (ro) f, intimitate (ro) f
• Spanish: intimidad (es) f

undue intimacy; impertinence

• Bulgarian: фамилиарност (bg) f (familiarnost)
• Catalan: confiança (ca) f
• French: familiarité (fr) f
• Hebrew: גסות f (gasút)
• Romanian: impertinență (ro) f
• Russian: фамильярность (ru) (familʹjarnostʹ)
• Spanish: impertinencia (es) f

an instance of familiar behaviour

• Catalan: familiaritat f
• French: familiarité (fr) f
• Hebrew: גסות f (gasút)
• Spanish: familiaridad (es) f

close or habitual acquaintance with someone; recognizability

• Bulgarian: близки отношения pl (blizki otnošenija)
• Catalan: confiança (ca) f
• Hebrew: מוכרות f (mukarút)
• Middle English: aqueyntaunce
• Romanian: familiaritate (ro) f
• Russian: ознакомленность (ru) (oznakomlennostʹ)
• Spanish: familiaridad (es) f

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Esperanto: ^{(please verify)} familiara (eo) (4)