societal

See also: sociétal

English

Etymology

Etymology tree

Proto-Indo-European *sekʷ-

Proto-Indo-European *-h₂

Proto-Indo-European *-éh₂

Proto-Indo-European *sokʷéh₂

Proto-Indo-European *-ṓy

Proto-Indo-European *sokʷh₂ṓy

Proto-Indo-European *-yós

Proto-Indo-European *sokʷyós

Proto-Italic *sokjos

Latin sokios

Latin socius

Proto-Indo-European *-teh₂

Proto-Indo-European *-ts

Proto-Indo-European *-teh₂ts

Proto-Italic *-tāts

Latin -tās

Latin societāslbor.

Old French societé

Middle French societébor.

English society

Proto-Italic *-ālis

Latin -ālisbor.

Old French -albor.

▲

Latin -ālis

Old French -elbor.

▲

Latin -ālisbor.

Middle English -al

English -al

English societal

From society +‎ -al.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): [səˈsaɪ.ɪ.tɫ̩]

  • Audio (Southern England):

    (file)

• (General American, Canada) IPA^(key): [səˈsaɪ.ə.tɫ̩], [səˈsaɪ.ə.ɾɫ̩]
• (General Australian, New Zealand) IPA^(key): [səˈsɑe.ə.tɫ̩], [səˈsɑe.ə.ɾɫ̩]

Adjective

societal (comparative more societal, superlative most societal)

1. Of or pertaining to society or social groups, or to their activities, customs, etc.
   • 1992 May 31, David Rehr, “Hayek's Legacy of the Spontaneous Order”, in Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis‎^[1], archived from the original on 20 October 2025:

     But his real legacy, which has touched each of us more than we will likely ever know, centers around a rather simple notion of spontaneous order of societal development.

   • 2010, Malcolm Knox, The Monthly, April 2010, Issue 55, The Monthly Ptd Ltd, page 46:

     While H5N1 flu is obviously lethal, some milder flus pose a greater societal threat, Professor Mathews says.

   • 2023 July 26, Ben Jones, “EU open access growth offers pointers for UK hopefuls”, in RAIL, number 988, page 33:

     "It would also bring huge societal and economic benefits to all the regions of Britain, not just to London - helping the Government with its 'levelling up' agenda."

Translations

societal

• Czech: celospolečenský
• Danish: samfundsmæssig
• Dutch: maatschappelijk (nl)
• Estonian: ühiskondlik
• Finnish: yhteiskunnallinen (fi)
• French: sociétal (fr)
• Galician: social (gl)
• Galician: social (gl)
• German: gesellschaftlich (de)
• Irish: sochaíoch
• Italian: societario (it)
• Lithuanian: visuomeninis
• Malayalam: സാമൂഹിക (ml) (sāmūhika), സാമൂഹികമായ (sāmūhikamāya)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: samfunnsmessig (no)

• Occitan: societau
• Polish: społeczny (pl) m
• Spanish: social (es)
• Swedish: samhällelig (sv)
• Tagalog: ulnungin
• Turkish: toplumsal (tr)

References

• “societal”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, launched 2000.

Anagrams

• aloetics, coaliest, coalites, cosalite

Spanish

Etymology

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /soθjeˈtal/ [so.θjeˈt̪al] (Spain, Equatorial Guinea)
• IPA^(key): /sosjeˈtal/ [so.sjeˈt̪al] (Latin America, Philippines)
• Rhymes: -al
• Syllabification: so‧cie‧tal

Adjective

societal m or f (masculine and feminine plural societales)

1. societal