privacy

English

Etymology

From private +‎ -cy.

Pronunciation

• (UK) enPR: prĭ'və-sē, IPA^(key): /ˈpɹɪv.ə.si/
• (US) enPR: prī'və-sē, IPA^(key): /ˈpɹaɪ.və.si/

Noun

privacy (countable and uncountable, plural privacies)

1. (uncountable) The state of being secluded from the presence, sight, or knowledge of others.

   I need my privacy, so please stay out of my room.

   • 1910, Emerson Hough, chapter II, in The Purchase Price: Or The Cause of Compromise, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, OCLC 639762314, page 0147:

     Carried somehow, somewhither, for some reason, on these surging floods, were these travelers, […]. Even such a boat as the Mount Vernon offered a total deck space so cramped as to leave secrecy or privacy well out of the question, even had the motley and democratic assemblage of passengers been disposed to accord either.

2. (uncountable) Freedom from unwanted or undue disturbance of one private life.

   It takes a village to rob one of a sense of privacy.

3. (uncountable) Freedom from damaging publicity, public scrutiny, surveillance, and disclosure of personal information, usually by a government or a private organization.

   Privacy is assumed by many to be among common-law rights.

4. (Can we verify⁽⁺⁾ this sense?) A society's rules on what topics are suitable for disclosure.
5. (countable, obsolete) A place of seclusion.
6. (obsolete, law) A relationship between parties seen as being a result of their mutual interest or participation in a given transaction, contract etc.; Privity.
7. (obsolete) Secrecy.
8. (countable, obsolete) A private matter; a secret.

Related terms

• antiprivacy
• private

Translations

state of being private

• Arabic: سِرِّيَّة‎‎ f (sirriyya), خَلْوَة‎‎ (ar) f (ḵalwa)
• Armenian: please add this translation if you can
• Catalan: privacitat f, privadesa f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 隱私 (zh), 隐私 (zh) (yǐnsī)

• Czech: soukromí (cs) n
• Dutch: afzondering (nl) f, privacy (nl) f
• Esperanto: privateco
• Finnish: yksityisyys (fi)
• French: intimité (fr) f, vie privée (fr) f
• Georgian: კონფიდენციალობა (ḳonpidencialoba), ინტიმურობა (inṭimuroba), განმარტოება (ganmarṭoeba), მარტოობა (marṭooba), განცალკევება (gancalḳeveba), სიმარტოვე (simarṭove), საიდუმლოება (saidumloeba) (of information), პრივატულობა (ṗrivaṭuloba)
• German: Zurückgezogenheit (de) f, Privatsphäre (de) f
• Greek: μυστικότητα (el) f (mystikótita), ιδιωτικότητα f (idiotikótita)
• Hebrew: פרטיות‎‎ (he) f (pratiyut), פרטיות‎‎ (he) f (pratiyut)
• Hindi: एकांत (hi) (ekānt)

• Italian: intimità (it) f, privacy (it) f
• Japanese: プライバシー (ja) (puraibashī), プライヴァシー (puraivashī)
• Khmer: បុគ្គលិកភាព (bokkea’lɨk pʰiep)
• Korean: 사생활 (ko) (sasaeng-hwal)
• Mongolian: please add this translation if you can
• Nepali: गोपनियता (ne) (Gopaniyata)
• Polish: prywatność (pl) f
• Portuguese: intimidade (pt) f, privacidade (pt) f
• Russian: уедине́ние (ru) n (ujedinénije) (seclusion), прива́тность (ru) f (privátnostʹ), пра́йвеси (ru) n (prájvɛsi), пра́йвеси (ru) n (prájvesi), неприкоснове́нность (neprikosnovénnostʹ) частной (častnoj) жизни (žizni) (neprikosnovénnostʹ částnoj žízni) n (legal term), секре́тность (ru) f (sekrétnostʹ), конфиденциа́льность (ru) f (konfidɛnciálʹnostʹ)
• Spanish: intimidad (es) f
• Swedish: avskildhet (sv) c, privatliv (sv)
• Thai: please add this translation if you can
• Ukrainian: самота́ f (samotá), самоти́на́ f du (samotýná)
• Vietnamese: please add this translation if you can

See also

• mind one's own business

References

• privacy at OneLook Dictionary Search
• privacy in The Century Dictionary, The Century Co., New York, 1911

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Dutch

Etymology

Borrowed from English privacy.

Pronunciation

• Audio

  (file)

• Hyphenation: pri‧va‧cy

Noun

privacy f (uncountable)

1. privacy

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Italian

Etymology

Borrowed from English privacy.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈpraivasi/

Noun

privacy f (invariable)

1. privacy (especially online)