Necessity
/nəˈsɛsɪti/noun
The state of being unavoidable or required; something that must happen or exist.
Did you know?It comes from Latin necessitas, tied to necesse, meaning “unavoidable” or “inevitable,” a word Romans used for things that felt almost fate-bound rather than merely useful.
Etymological Timeline
Proto-Indo-European
PIE
*ne-
“not”
Latin
Latin
necesse
“inevitable, unavoidable”
Latin
Latin
necessitas
“inevitability, constraint, need”
Old French
Old French
necessité
“need, hardship, compulsion”
Middle English
English
necessite
“need, compulsion, unavoidable condition”
Modern English
English
necessity
“the condition of being necessary or unavoidable”
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