Etymology

levity

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Today it means: A lightness of manner or speech, frivolity; flippancy; a lack of appropriate seriousness; an inclination to make a joke of serious matters. Full definition →

Latin levitās
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The story

  1. Latin · derived fromlevitās“lightness, frivolity”
  2. English todaylevity

Coined in 1564, from Latin levitās (“lightness, frivolity”), from levis (“lightness (in weight)”). Cognate to lever, and more distantly, light.

Words from the same roots

Latinlevitās all →

levitation

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.