parity

¹par·i·ty

noun \ˈper-ə-tē, ˈpa-rə-\

plural par·i·ties

Definition of PARITY

1

: the quality or state of being equal or equivalent

2

a : equivalence of a commodity price expressed in one currency to its price expressed in another b : equality of purchasing power established by law between different kinds of money at a given ratio

3

: an equivalence between farmers' current purchasing power and their purchasing power at a selected base period maintained by government support of agricultural commodity prices

4

a : the property of an integer with respect to being odd or even <3 and 7 have the same parity> b (1) : the state of being odd or even used as the basis of a method of detecting errors in binary-coded data (2) : parity bit

5

: the property of oddness or evenness of a quantum mechanical function

6

: the symmetry of behavior in an interaction of a physical entity (as a subatomic particle) with that of its mirror image

Origin of PARITY

Latin paritas, from par equal

First Known Use: 1608