piracy

B2 Topic:Crime & Justice

US /ˈpaɪɹəsi/ See IPA manual

Freq #23234

Meanings

1

noun
The illegal copying or selling of films, music, software, or other protected work.

Online piracy costs the music industry billions every year.
2

noun
The crime of attacking and robbing ships at sea.

Piracy off the coast became a serious threat to cargo ships.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 noun · the illegal copying or... bootleggingfile sharing

2 noun · the crime of attacking and... buccaneering

Word family

Forms piracies

Derived forms anti-piracyantipiracybiopiracycounterpiracycyberpiracye-piracy

Related forms pirate

Etymology

From Medieval Latin pīrātia, from Classical Latin pīrāta + ia, or Ancient Greek πειρατεία (peirateía).

pīrātia la-med pīrāta Latin πειρατεία Ancient Greek

View etymology graph ->

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# piracy

**Type:** Word
**Level:** B2
**Part of speech:** noun
**IPA (US):** /ˈpaɪɹəsi/
**Frequency rank:** 23234

## Meanings
1. The illegal copying or selling of films, music, software, or other protected work.
2. The crime of attacking and robbing ships at sea.

## Examples
- Online piracy costs the music industry billions every year.
- Piracy off the coast became a serious threat to cargo ships.

## Derived Forms
- anti-piracy
- antipiracy
- biopiracy
- counterpiracy
- cyberpiracy
- e-piracy

## Related Forms
- pirate

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: pīrātia
- Root: pīrāta
- Root: πειρατεία

## Etymology
From Medieval Latin pīrātia, from Classical Latin pīrāta + ia, or Ancient Greek πειρατεία (peirateía).

## AI Etymology
Piracy comes from Medieval Latin pīrātia, from Classical Latin pīrāta + ia, or Ancient Greek πειρατεία (peirateía). The historical chain includes pīrātia (la-med), pīrāta (Latin), πειρατεία (Ancient Greek). In present-day English it covers the illegal copying or selling of films, music, software, or other protected work and the crime of attacking and robbing ships at sea. The wider family includes derived forms such as anti-piracy, antipiracy, biopiracy, counterpiracy, cyberpiracy and related forms such as pirate.

## Topics
- Crime & Justice

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piracy

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