privacy

English

Etymology

Etymology tree

Proto-Indo-European *per-

Proto-Italic *prei

Proto-Indo-European *-wós

Proto-Italic *-wos

Proto-Italic *preiwos

Latin prīvus

Proto-Indo-European *-h₂

Proto-Indo-European *-éh₂

Proto-Indo-European *-yéti

Proto-Indo-European *-eh₂yéti

Proto-Indo-European *-h₂tiinflu.

Proto-Italic *-ājō

Proto-Italic *-āō

Latin -ō

Latin prīvō

Latin prīvātusder.

Middle English privat(e)

English priv(ate)

English -acy

English privacy

From priv(ate) + -acy.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) enPR: prĭ'və-sē, IPA^(key): /ˈpɹɪv.ə.si/, /ˈpɹaɪ.və.si/
• (Standard Southern British) IPA^(key): /ˈpɹɪvəsɪj/, /ˈpɹɑjvəsɪj/

  • Audio (Southern England):

    (file)

  • Audio (Southern England):

    (file)

• (General American) enPR: prī'və-sē, IPA^(key): /ˈpɹaɪ.və.si/

Noun

privacy (countable and uncountable, plural privacies)

1. (uncountable) The state of being secluded from the presence, sight, or knowledge of others.

   I need my privacy, so please stay out of my room.

   • 1910, Emerson Hough, chapter II, in The Purchase Price: Or The Cause of Compromise, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC:

     Carried somehow, somewhither, for some reason, on these surging floods, were these travelers, […]. Even such a boat as the Mount Vernon offered a total deck space so cramped as to leave secrecy or privacy well out of the question, even had the motley and democratic assemblage of passengers been disposed to accord either.

   • 1944 November and December, “"Duplex Roomette" Sleeping Cars”, in Railway Magazine, page 324:

     It is realised that the old Pullman standard sleeper, with its convertible "sections", each containing upper and lower berths, and with no greater privacy at night than the curtains drawn along both sides of a middle aisle, has had its day.

2. (uncountable) Freedom from unwanted or undue disturbance of one's private life.

   Those prying neighbours have robbed me of my sense of privacy.

3. (uncountable) Freedom from damaging publicity, public scrutiny, surveillance, and disclosure of personal information, usually by a government or a private organization.

   Privacy is assumed by many to be among common-law rights.

   • 1998 May 6, Douglas Watkinson et al., “Death in Disguise”, in Midsomer Murders:

     Trixie Channing: Good God. Is there no privacy?
     DCI Tom Barnaby: No, not in a murder case.

4. (countable, obsolete) A place of seclusion.
5. (obsolete, law) A relationship between parties seen as being a result of their mutual interest or participation in a given transaction, contract etc.

   Synonym: privity

6. (obsolete) Secrecy.
7. (countable, obsolete) A private matter.

   Synonym: secret

   • 1680, John Dryden, “The Preface to Ovid’s Epistles”, in Ovid, Ovid’s Epistles, […], London: […] Jacob Tonson […], →OCLC:

     It ſeems more probable that Ovid vvas either the Confident of ſome other paſſion, or that he had ſtumbled by ſome inadvertency, upon the privacies of Livia, and ſeen her in a Bath: […]

Derived terms

• antiprivacy
• cyberprivacy
• data privacy
• differential privacy
• e-privacy
• geoprivacy
• invasion of privacy
• privacy coin
• privacy policy
• privacy seal
• semiprivacy
• undisprivacied

Related terms

• private

Translations

state of being secluded

• Arabic: سِرِّيَّة f (sirriyya), خَلْوَة (ar) f (ḵalwa), خُصُوصِيَّة f (ḵuṣūṣiyya)
• Armenian: գաղտնիություն (hy) (gaġtniutʻyun)
• Asturian: privacidá f
• Azerbaijani: şəxsilik, məhrumiyyət
• Belarusian: прыва́тнасць f (pryvátnascʹ), канфідэнцыя́льнасць f (kanfidencyjálʹnascʹ) (confidentiality)
• Bulgarian: уедине́ние (bg) n (uedinénie), самота́ (bg) f (samotá), ли́чно простра́нство n (líčno prostránstvo) (personal space)
• Catalan: privacitat f, privadesa f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 隱私 / 隐私 (zh) (yǐnsī)

• Czech: soukromí (cs) n
• Danish: privatliv n
• Dutch: afzondering (nl) f, privacy (nl) f
• Esperanto: privateco
• Finnish: yksityisyys (fi)
• French: intimité (fr) f, vie privée (fr) f, confidentialité (fr)
• Galician: intimidade (gl) f, privacidade f
• Georgian: კონფიდენციალობა (ḳonpidencialoba), ინტიმურობა (inṭimuroba), განმარტოება (ganmarṭoeba), მარტოობა (marṭooba), განცალკევება (gancalḳeveba), სიმარტოვე (simarṭove), საიდუმლოება (saidumloeba) (of information), პრივატულობა (ṗrivaṭuloba)
• German: Privatsphäre (de) f, Ungestörtheit f, Zurückgezogenheit (de) f, Abgeschiedenheit (de) f
• Greek: μυστικότητα (el) f (mystikótita), ιδιωτικότητα (el) f (idiotikótita)
• Hebrew: פְּרָטִיּוּת (he) f (pratiyút)
• Hindi: एकांत (hi) m (ekānt)
• Hungarian: magánélet (hu)
• Icelandic: persónuvernd f
• Irish: príobháideachas m
• Italian: privatezza (it) f, intimità (it) f, privacy (it) f
• Japanese: プライバシー (ja) (puraibashī), プライヴァシー (puraivashī)
• Kazakh: приваттылық (prıyvattılıq)
• Khmer: បុគ្គលិកភាព (bokkĕəʼlɨk phiəp)
• Korean: 사생활(私生活) (ko) (sasaenghwal), 프라이버시 (ko) (peuraibeosi)
• Kyrgyz: купуялык (kupuyalık)
• Macedonian: приватност f (privatnost)
• Malayalam: സ്വകാര്യത (svakāryata)
• Mongolian:

  Cyrillic: хувийн нууцлал (xuviin nuuclal)

• Nepali: गोपनियता (ne) (gopaniyatā)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: privatliv n

• Occitan: privacitat f
• Persian: حریم شخصی (harim-e šaxsi)
• Plautdietsch: Veborjenheit f
• Polish: prywatność (pl) f
• Portuguese: intimidade (pt) f, privacidade (pt) f
• Romanian: intimitate (ro) f, confidențialitate f
• Russian: уедине́ние (ru) n (ujedinénije) (seclusion), прива́тность (ru) f (privátnostʹ), пра́йвеси (ru) n (prájvɛsi), пра́йвеси (ru) n (prájvesi), неприкоснове́нность ча́стной жи́зни n (neprikosnovénnostʹ částnoj žízni) (legalese), секре́тность (ru) f (sekrétnostʹ) (secrecy), конфиденциа́льность (ru) f (konfidɛnciálʹnostʹ) (confidentiality), ли́чное простра́нство n (líčnoje prostránstvo) (personal space)
• Sanskrit: रहस् (sa) n (rahas)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: прива́тно̄ст f

  Latin: privátnōst (sh) f

• Sicilian: privatizza f, ntimità f
• Slovak: súkromie n
• Slovene: zasebnost f
• Spanish: intimidad (es) f, privacidad (es) f
• Swedish: avskildhet (sv) c, privatliv (sv) n
• Thai: ความเป็นส่วนตัว (kwaam-bpen-sùuan-dtuua)
• Turkish: gizlilik (tr) (secrecy), mahremiyet (tr)
• Ukrainian: самота́ f (samotá), самотина́ f (samotyná), самоти́на f (samotýna), самі́тність f (samítnistʹ), само́тність f (samótnistʹ), прива́тність f (pryvátnistʹ), конфіденці́йність f (konfidencíjnistʹ) (confidentiality), недоторка́нність прива́тного життя́ f (nedotorkánnistʹ pryvátnoho žyttjá) (legalese)
• Urdu: تَخْلِیَہ (ur) (taxliya), گوشَہ (gośa)
• Vietnamese: sự riêng tư
• Welsh: preifatrwydd m
• Yiddish: פּריוואַטיקייט f (privatikeyt)

freedom from unwanted disturbance

• Belarusian: прыва́тнасць f (pryvátnascʹ)
• Finnish: yksityisyys (fi), rauha (fi)
• French: tranquillité (fr) f, intimité (fr) f
• Galician: intimidade (gl) f, privacidade f
• German: Privatsphäre (de) f, Ruhe (de) f
• Italian: riservatezza (it) f, privatezza (it) f, privacy (it) f
• Japanese: プライバシー (ja) (puraibashī), プライヴァシー (puraivashī)
• Korean: 프라이버시 (ko) (peuraibeosi)
• Polish: prywatność (pl) f
• Russian: прива́тность (ru) f (privátnostʹ), пра́йвеси (ru) f (prájvɛsi), пра́йвеси (ru) f (prájvesi)
• Sicilian: privatizza f, risirbatizza f, privacy f
• Ukrainian: прива́тність f (pryvátnistʹ)

freedom from publicity, scrutiny, surveillance, etc.

• Finnish: yksityisyys (fi)
• Galician: intimidade (gl) f, privacidade f
• Georgian: კონფიდენციალურობა (ḳonpidencialuroba)
• German: Privatsphäre (de) f, Persönlichkeitsrechte (de) n pl, Ungestörtsein n
• Italian: riservatezza (it) f, privatezza (it) f, privacy (it) f
• Sicilian: privatizza f, risirbatizza f, privacy f
• Swedish: integritet (sv) c

See also

• mind one's own business

References

• “privacy”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.
• William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin Eli Smith, editors (1895–1910), “privacy”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC.

Dutch

Etymology

Borrowed from English privacy.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈpraːi̯.vəˌsi/, /ˈprɑi̯.vəˌsi/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Hyphenation: pri‧va‧cy

Noun

privacy f (uncountable, no diminutive)

1. privacy

Italian

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from English privacy.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈpraj.va.si/, (careful style) /ˈpri.va.si/
• Rhymes: -ajvasi, (careful style) -ivasi

Noun

privacy f (invariable)

1. privacy (especially online)