equity

/ˈɛk.wɪ.ti/

nounC15 meanings Common in everyday speech and writing · #7,321 of 15,258mostly written

Other forms: equities

Equity is fairness of a particular kind: the kind that looks at what each person actually needs instead of handing everyone the same. Picture two children at a fence - equality gives them one box each, equity gives the shorter one a taller box.

The money sense fills more pages than the fairness one. Equity is the part of something you genuinely own: if the house is worth 300,000 and 200,000 is still owed to the bank, your equity is 100,000. In a company, equity means ownership through shares, so equity investors hold a slice of the business, and 'equities' on the financial news simply means shares. English law keeps a third sense, equity as a body of rules built to soften strict law where it produced unfair results. The adjective is equitable, and it belongs to the fairness sense, not the money one.

Definitions of equity

1nounideaFairness that takes different needs and circumstances into account.C1~23%
“The policy aims at equity rather than equal spending per pupil.”
formal in this meaning — an editor’s judgement
synonyms: fairness, justice
2nounvalueThe value of a property once the debts on it are subtracted.C1~9%
“Fifteen years of payments have built up real equity in the house.”
3nounequityOwnership of a company, held as shares.C1~5%
“The founders kept sixty percent of the equity.”
4nountreatedShares in companies, treated as a type of investment.C1~36%
“He moved his savings out of equities and into bonds.”
5nounlawIn English law, a body of rules developed to give fair outcomes where strict law falls short.C2~27%
“The case was decided in equity rather than at common law.”

Shares are an estimate: a language model read 22 sentences found in the wild and placed 22 of them on a sense — a count of our sample, not a measurement of English.

Also practised as

nounFairness that takes different needs into account.

Where it comes from

Equity came through Old French equite from Latin aequitas, meaning uniformity, impartiality and fairness. Both modern senses still sit inside that one word: a fair outcome, and the share that is fairly yours.

Latin
aequitās — uniformity; impartiality; fairness
Old French
equité
Middle English
equitee
English, today
equity

From Middle English equitee, equytee, from Old French equité, from Latin aequitās (“uniformity; impartiality; fairness”).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practised in Business & Money

Practise this word

equity in the wild

Later, in some civil law systems, equity was integrated in the legal rules, but in common law systems it became an independent body of law.
Equity (law)
The assets of the acquired company are often used as collateral for the financing, along with any equity contributed by the acquiror.
Leveraged buyout
For example, if someone owns a car worth $24,000 and owes $10,000 on the loan used to buy the car, the difference of $14,000 is equity.
Equity (finance)
In government finance or other non-profit settings, equity is known as "net position" or "net assets".
Equity (finance)
Private equity (PE) is stock in a private company that does not offer stock to the general public.
Private equity

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From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. These sentences were written by other people about their own subjects; they are here to show the word at work, not as anybody’s opinion.

Related words

the equité family

equity equitable

equity — used about once every 2,529 pages · #7,321 · point at the bar for the others

Definitions of equity

1nounideaFairness that takes different needs and circumstances into account.C1~23%

“The policy aims at equity rather than equal spending per pupil.”

formal in this meaning — an editor’s judgement

synonyms: fairness, justice

2nounvalueThe value of a property once the debts on it are subtracted.C1~9%

“Fifteen years of payments have built up real equity in the house.”

3nounequityOwnership of a company, held as shares.C1~5%

“The founders kept sixty percent of the equity.”

4nountreatedShares in companies, treated as a type of investment.C1~36%

“He moved his savings out of equities and into bonds.”

5nounlawIn English law, a body of rules developed to give fair outcomes where strict law falls short.C2~27%

“The case was decided in equity rather than at common law.”

Shares are an estimate: a language model read 22 sentences found in the wild and placed 22 of them on a sense — a count of our sample, not a measurement of English.