mortality (n.)
mid-14c., mortalite, "condition of being subject to death or the necessity of dying," from Old French mortalite "massacre, slaughter; fatal illness; poverty; destruction" (12c.) and directly from Latin mortalitem (nominative mortalitas) "state of being mortal; subjection to death," from mortalis "subject to death, mortal," from PIE root *mer- "to rub away, harm" (also "to die" and forming words referring to death and to beings subject to death).
Meaning "widespread death, numerousness of deaths; plague" is from c. 1400; meaning "number of deaths from some cause or in a given period" is from 1640s, later especially in proportion to population.
updated on February 24, 2019
Dictionary entries near mortality
morrow
Morse code
morsel
mort
mortal
mortality
mortally
mortar
mortarboard
mortgage
mortgagee
