'Privilege' is literally 'a private law' — Latin 'privus' (individual) + 'lex' (law). Rules for the few.
Definition
A special right, advantage, or immunity granted or available only to a particular person or group; an advantage that most people do not have.
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Latinc. 1154well-attested
From OldFrench privilege, from Latin prīvilēgium ("a law affecting an individual, a special right"), a compound of prīvus ("individual, private") and lēx (genitive lēgis, "law"). Prīvus derives from PIE *prei-wo- ("separate, individual"), from *per- ("forward, through"), with a semantic narrowing from "set apart" to "one's own." Lēx comes from PIE *leǵ- ("to gather, collect"), the root that also gives
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A 'privilege' is literally a 'private law' — a law that benefitsoneperson or group rather than everyone. This etymologymakesthe modern sociological concept of 'privilege' (unearned advantages enjoyed by dominant groups) etymologically precise: privilege is the set of rules — written and unwritten — that apply differently to different people.
granted by papal authority, giving the word a positive institutional valence. English borrowed it via Anglo-Norman in the 12th century. The modern critical sense — "unearned systemic advantage accruing to a social group" — emerged in sociology in the mid-20th century, reactivating the Roman suspicion of laws that benefit some over others. The word thus completed a semantic circle across two millennia. Key roots: prīvus (Latin: "individual, private, one's own"), lēx (lēgis) (Latin: "law").