I. ˈper-ə-tē, ˈpa-rə- noun
( plural -ties )
Etymology: Latin paritas, from par equal
Date: 1608
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
II. noun
Etymology: -parous
Date: 1878
: the state or fact of having borne offspring ; also : the number of children previously borne