moiety

1 one of two (approximately) equal parts [syn: mediety]

2 one of two basic subdivisions of a tribe

English

Etymology

From the meitiet (French moitié), from medietas “half”, from medius “middle, half”

Noun

1. Half.
   • 1832, The Christmas Box, edited by T. Crofton Croker:

     From New Holland the emu,

     With his better moiety,

     Has paid a visit to the Zo-

     Ological Society.

2. A share or portion.
3. A specific segment of a molecule.

   Aniline has both a phenyl and an amino moiety.

4. Each descent group in a culture which is divided exactly into two descent groups.
   • William Shakespeare, Antony and Cleopatra:

     The death of Antony

     Is not a single doom; in the name lay

     A moiety of the world.

Moiety (plural moieties) may mean:

• In chemistry, a functional group, or part of a molecule
• In anthropology, a type of descent group
• In Indigenous Australian kinship, a Australian Aboriginal kinship group
• In real estate and property law, a moiety title
• In the 1997 computer game Riven, Moiety was the name of a group that rebelled against Gehn.

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