Today's Word "Ubiquity"
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Published in Vocabulary
Ubiquity \yu-BI-kweh-ti\ (noun) - Wide-spread presence, presence everywhere, commonplaceness.
"The ubiquity of computers in offices and libraries allows some people to get by without one at home."
Today's word is built on Latin ubi-que "everywhere" (itself from ubi "where" + -que "and") + -ous. Latin ubi "where" was originaly the locative case of Proto-Indo-European *kwo- "where, when, who," i.e. *kwo-bhi, which became -cubi in compounds like alicubi "somewhere." It then lost its initial [k] in "ubique," perhaps influenced by ibi "there." The same root, *kwo- became "who" in English and kto "who" in Russian. The pronouns on "qu-" in Latin, e.g. quo "where," qui "who," quot "how many," share the same source.
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