Mortality

Mortality

Noun · /mɔːˈtæl.ɪ.ti/

Definition

The state of being subject to death; the number of deaths in a given area or period, or from a particular cause; mortality rate — the proportion of deaths in relation to a population.

Origin

From Old French mortalité, from Latin mortalitas (mortality, the state of being mortal), from mortalis (mortal, subject to death), from mors/mortis (death), from mori (to die). The same mori root giving mortal, mortuary, mortician, mortify, and immortal. Mortality is used both in its abstract existential sense (the human condition of being subject to death) and in its specific epidemiological sense (mortality rates, infant mortality, excess mortality). The Black Death of 1347-1353 killing approximately a third of Europe's population being one of the defining historical experiences of mass mortality.