Friday word: Apartheid

[med_cat]

apart·​heid | \ ə-ˈpär-ˌtāt, -ˌtīt\, n.


1 : racial segregation, specifically: a former policy of segregation and political and economic discrimination against non-European groups in the Republic of South Africa

2 : separation, segregation: cultural apartheid, gender apartheid

Examples:

It is a long time since I saw this word, but it came up just recently, as a meaning #2, which I never knew about, having only heard of this word in its meaning #1.

"Yes, we're all in this coronavirus ordeal together but I fear we're risking lockdown apartheid... it's the poorest who are being hardest hit", an article by John Humphries in The Daily Mail, March 27, 2020.


First Known Use:

1947, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Etymology:

Afrikaans, from apart apart + -heid -hood