equality

English

Alternative forms

• æquality (archaic)

Etymology

Borrowed from Middle French equalité (modern French égalité), from Latin aequālitās, aequālitātem. Doublet of equity. By surface analysis, equal +‎ -ity

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ɪˈkwɒl.ɪ.ti/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• (US) enPR: ĭʹkwŏ-lĭ-tē IPA^(key): /ɪˈkwɑ.lɪ.ti/, [ɪˈkwɑ.lɪ.ɾi]

Noun

equality (usually uncountable, plural equalities)

1. The fact of being equal.
2. (mathematics) The fact of being equal, of having the same value. (Can we add an example for this sense?)
3. The equal treatment of people irrespective of social or cultural differences.
   • 1964 December 13, Harry S. Truman, 8:26 from the start, in MP77-34 KCMO-TV News Segments, 1964-1966‎^[1], Harry S. Truman Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives Identifier: 595162:

     I think somebody asked me the other day when I was holding a conference over here at the library if a woman could be President of the United States. Well I said they've taken over everything else in the world, why not that? [Laughter] And that wouldn't surprise me if it doesn't happen one of these days because the country believes in equality.

   • 2020 December 12, Ouyang Fei, “The Issue of Equality in the U.S. Election and Its Communist Roots”, in Minghui‎^[2]:

     Jefferson was talking about the equality of natural human rights. You have freedom, and I have freedom. You and I have equal rights to freedom.

Synonyms

• (fact of being equal): equivalence, parity

Antonyms

• (fact of being equal): difference, inequality, nonequivilence
• (equal treatment of people): discrimination, inequality

Derived terms

• equality money
• equality sign
• marriage equality

 

Translations

fact of being equal

• Amharic: እኩልነት (ʾəkulnät)
• Arabic: مُسَاوَاة f (musāwāh)

  Gulf Arabic: مساواة (mʊsawat, mʊsawa)

• Armenian: հավասարություն (hy) (havasarutʻyun)
• Azerbaijani: bərabərlik
• Belarusian: ро́ўнасць f (róŭnascʹ)
• Bulgarian: ра́венство (bg) n (rávenstvo), еднаквост (bg) f (ednakvost)
• Catalan: igualtat (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 平等 (zh) (píngděng), 均等 (zh) (jūnděng)

• Czech: rovnocennost f, rovnost (cs) f
• Danish: lighed (da) c
• Dutch: gelijkheid (nl) f
• Esperanto: egaleco
• Finnish: yhdenvertaisuus (fi), samanvertaisuus
• French: égalité (fr) f
• Galician: igualdade (gl) f
• Georgian: თანასწორობა (tanasc̣oroba)
• German: Gleichheit (de) f
• Gothic: 𐌹𐌱𐌽𐌰𐍃𐍃𐌿𐍃 m (ibnassus)
• Greek: ισότητα (el) f (isótita)

  Ancient: ἰσότης f (isótēs)

• Guaraní: tekojoja
• Hebrew: שוויון m (shivyón)
• Hindi: समानता (hi) f (samāntā)
• Hungarian: egyenlőség (hu)
• Ido: egaleso (io)
• Ilocano: arked
• Indonesian: kesamaan (id)
• Irish: comhionannas m, ionannas m
• Italian: parità (it) f, uguaglianza (it) f, eguaglianza f
• Japanese: 平等 (ja) (びょうどう, byōdō), 均等 (ja) (きんとう, kintō)
• Korean: 평등 (ko) (pyeongdeung), 균등 (ko) (gyundeung)
• Kurdish:

  Northern Kurdish: wekhevî (ku) f, yeksanî (ku) f

• Latin: aequitās f, aequalitas f
• Latvian: vienlīdzība (lv) f
• Lithuanian: lygybė f
• Macedonian: еднаквост f (ednakvost)
• Malayalam: തുല്യത (ml) (tulyata)
• Maori: ōritetanga
• Neapolitan: eguaglianza f
• Norman: êgalité f
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: likhet (no) m or f

  Nynorsk: likskap m

• Occitan: egalitat (oc) f
• Old English: efnlīcnes f
• Ottoman Turkish: استوا (istiva)
• Persian: برابری (fa) (barâbari)
• Plautdietsch: Äwareenheit f
• Polish: równość (pl) f
• Portuguese: igualdade (pt) f
• Romanian: egalitate (ro)
• Russian: ра́венство (ru) n (rávenstvo)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: једнакост f

  Roman: jednakost (sh) f

• Slovak: rovnosť f
• Slovene: enakost f
• Spanish: igualdad (es) f
• Tajik: баробарӣ (barobari)
• Turkish: eşitlik (tr)
• Ukrainian: рі́вність f (rívnistʹ)
• Urdu: مساوات (musāvāt), برابری (barābarī), یکسانیت (yaksāniyat)
• Uzbek: tenglik (uz), baravarlik (uz)
• Welsh: cydraddoldeb f

mathematics: fact of having the same value

• Arabic: تَسَاوٍ m (tasāwin)
• Armenian: հավասարություն (hy) (havasarutʻyun)
• Azerbaijani: bərabərlik
• Bulgarian: ра́венство (bg) n (rávenstvo)
• Dutch: gelijkheid (nl) f
• Finnish: yhtäsuuruus (fi)
• French: égalité (fr) f
• Galician: igualdade (gl) f
• German: Gleichheit (de) f
• Greek: ισότητα (el) f (isótita)

  Ancient: ἰσότης f (isótēs)

• Hungarian: egyenlőség (hu)
• Indonesian: kesamaan (id)
• Macedonian: равенство n (ravenstvo)
• Old English: ġelīcnes f, efnlīcnes f
• Portuguese: igualdade (pt) f
• Russian: ра́венство (ru) n (rávenstvo)
• Spanish: paridad (es) f, igualdad (es) f
• Swahili: usawa (sw)
• Swedish: likhet (sv) c
• Thai: ภาวะเท่ากัน

equal treatment of people irrespective of social or cultural differences

• Albanian: barazi (sq) f
• Amharic: እኩልነት (ʾəkulnät)
• Arabic: مُسَاوَاة f (musāwāh)
• Armenian: հավասարություն (hy) (havasarutʻyun)
• Azerbaijani: bərabərlik
• Belarusian: ро́ўнасць f (róŭnascʹ), раўнапра́ўе n (raŭnapráŭje), раўнапра́ўнасць f (raŭnapráŭnascʹ)
• Bulgarian: равнопра́вие (bg) n (ravnoprávie)
• Catalan: igualtat (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 平等 (zh) (píngděng)

• Czech: rovnost (cs) f
• Danish: ligebehandling c, ligestilling c
• Dutch: gelijkberechtiging (nl) f
• Estonian: võrdsus, samaväärsus
• Finnish: tasa-arvo (fi), tasa-arvoisuus (fi)
• French: égalité (fr) f
• Galician: igualdade (gl) f
• Georgian: თანასწორობა (tanasc̣oroba)
• German: Gleichberechtigung (de) f
• Hindi: समानता (hi) f (samāntā)
• Hungarian: egyenlőség (hu)
• Icelandic: jafnrétti (is) n
• Irish: comhionannas m
• Italian: egualità f, ugualità f, uguaglianza (it) f, eguaglianza
• Japanese: 平等 (ja) (びょうどう, byōdō)
• Kazakh: теңдік (teñdık)
• Korean: 평등(平等) (ko) (pyeongdeung)
• Kyrgyz: теңдик (ky) (teŋdik)
• Latvian: vienlīdzība (lv) f
• Lithuanian: lygybė f
• Macedonian: рамнопра́вност f (ramnoprávnost)
• Malay: kesetaraan, kesamaan (ms)
• Malayalam: സമത്വം (ml) (samatvaṁ)
• Maori: mana taurite
• Ngazidja Comorian: usawa class 11
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: likestilling m or f

  Nynorsk: likestilling f

• Old English: ġelīcnes f, efenlīcnes f
• Persian: برابری (fa) (barâbari)
• Polish: równość (pl) f, adekwacja f (literary)
• Portuguese: equidade (pt) f, igualdade (pt) f
• Romanian: egalitate (ro) f
• Russian: равнопра́вие (ru) n (ravnoprávije), ра́венство (ru) n (rávenstvo)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: равноправност f, једнакост f

  Roman: ravnopravnost (sh) f, jednakost (sh) f

• Slovak: rovnosť f
• Slovene: enakopravnost f, enakost f
• Spanish: igualdad (es) f, paridad (es) f
• Swahili: usawa (sw)
• Swedish: likabehandling (sv) c, jämlikhet (sv) c, jämställdhet (sv) c
• Tajik: баробарӣ (barobari)
• Thai: ความเสมอภาค (th), ความเท่าเทียม (th) (kwaam-tâo-tiiam), สมภาพ
• Turkish: eşitlik (tr)
• Turkmen: deňlik
• Ukrainian: рі́вність f (rívnistʹ), рівнопра́вність f (rivnoprávnistʹ) (equal rights), рівнопра́в'я n (rivnoprávʺja)
• Uzbek: tenglik (uz)
• Vietnamese: sự bình đẳng (vi)
• Welsh: cydraddoldeb 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

• Italian: ^{(please verify)} uguaglianza (it) f
• Swedish: jämlikhet (sv)

References

• “equality”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.
• equality in Keywords for Today: A 21st Century Vocabulary, edited by The Keywords Project, Colin MacCabe, Holly Yanacek, 2018.
• "equality" in Raymond Williams, Keywords (revised), 1983, Fontana Press, page 117.
• “equality”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.