moiety \MOI-i-tee\,
noun:
1. a half.
2. an indefinite portion, part, or share.
3. Anthropology. one of two units into which a tribe or community is divided on the basis of unilineal descent.
Tom divided the cake and Becky ate with good appetite, while Tom nibbled at his moiety.
-- Mark Twain, "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer," 1876
Poor Federigo, although his necessity was extreme and his grief great, remembering his former inordinate expenses, a moiety whereof would now have stood him in some stead, yet he had a heart as free and forward as ever, not a jot dejected in his mind, though utterly overthrown by fortune.
-- Giovanni Boccaccio (1313-1375), "The Falcon," Little Masterpieces of Fiction, 1905
Moiety comes from Old French meitiet, from Late Latin medietas, from Latin medius, "middle."
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