mortality
Meaning
the state of being human and not living forever
the number of deaths in a particular situation or period of time
Structure
Usage
the mortality rate from the disease has fallen significantly.
the novel explores themes of love and mortality.
infant mortality is a key indicator of a nation's healthcare system.
Etymology
the word 'mortality' originates from the latin 'mortalitas', which itself is derived from 'mortalis', meaning 'subject to death'. the core root 'mort-' comes from the proto-indo-european base 'mer-', meaning 'to die' or 'to waste away', which is also the source for words like 'murder' and 'mortuary'. the latin suffix '-alis' was added to form the adjective 'mortalis', and the abstract noun-forming suffix '-itas' was then appended to create the state or condition of being subject to death. over time, the term evolved from its literal sense of 'the condition of being mortal' to also encompass the statistical measure of death rates within populations.
Analysis
mort (from latin 'mors, mort-', meaning 'death', root), al (from latin '-alis', forming adjectives, suffix), ity (from latin '-itas', forming nouns indicating a state or condition, suffix)