parliament

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   The group of elected people who make a country's laws.

   Parliament voted to pass the new law on clean energy.

2. 2
   noun

   The period of time for which a parliament meets, usually between two elections.

   Several major reforms were made during the last parliament.

Simplified etymology

Parliament came into Middle English from a French formation based on parler ‘to talk’. Parler ultimately goes back to Latin parabola ‘word’, so parliament originally denoted a gathering for discussion.

From Middle English parlement, from Anglo-Norman parliament, parlement, parliment and Old French parlement (“discussion, meeting, negotiation; assembly, council”), from parler (“to speak”) + -ment (“-ment”, suffix forming nouns from verbs, usually indicating an action or state resulting from them) (from Latin -mentum). Compare Medieval Latin parlamentum, parliamentum (“discussion, meeting; council or court summoned by the monarch”), Italian parlamento and Sicilian parramentu.

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