Other forms: societies
Society is all the people of a place living together, taken as a whole. Modern society, a fair society, society expects it.
It is uncountable in that sense and takes the only when a particular one is meant. A society, countable, is an organised group with members — a historical society, the Royal Society — and that is the sense on club noticeboards. High society means the wealthiest and best connected, and is faintly dated. Note the adjective social, which covers a huge range from social media to social services, and sociable, which describes a person who enjoys company.
1nounsocietyPeople in general, living together in an organised way.
“Society has changed a great deal in one generation.”
2noungroupAn organised group of people with a shared interest.
“She joined the local history society.”
3nounwealthyThe wealthy and fashionable, in older use.
“It was a society wedding, reported in every paper.”
Too few real examples of this word to estimate which sense is commonest.
society is a body of people.
Latin societas comes from socius, a companion or ally — the same root as social, associate and, at a distance, sequence, from a verb meaning to follow. A society is a set of people who go along with each other.
Proto-Indo-European
*sekʷ-
Middle French
societé
English, today
society
Built from
Borrowed from Middle French societé. Borrowed from Middle French societé, from Old French societé, from Latin societas (“fellowship, association, alliance, union, community”), from socius (“associated, allied; partner, companion, ally”), from Proto-Indo-European sokʷ-yo- (“companion”), from Proto-Indo-European sekʷ- (“to follow”). 1530s.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA