asperity

Definition

The quality of having a rough or uneven surface; roughness, unevenness; (countable, chiefly in the plural) a protruding or rough area or point on a surface; a protrusion.

Etymology

From Middle English asprete, asperite, from Old French aspreté (modern French âpreté), from Latin asperitātem, the accusative singular of asperitās (“roughness, unevenness; fierceness, severity; harshness, sharpness; acidity, tartness”), from asper (“coarse, rough, uneven; bitter, fierce harsh; rude, unrefined; etc.”) (probably from Proto-Indo-European *h₂esp- (“to cut”)) + -itās (a variant of -tās (suffix forming feminine abstract nouns indicating a state of being)). The spelling of the English word is influenced directly by Latin asperitātem. Doublet of asperitas.

Example Sentences

• "Oyle of ſwete Almondes and of ſiſami taketh away the aſperitie and rougheneſſe of the throte."
• "The iuyce of Mynte mengled with honied water, cureth the payne of the eares being dropped therein, and taketh away the aſperitie, and roughneſſe of the tongue, whan it is rubbed or waſſhed therewith."
• "[I]f Man vvere out of the vvorld, vvho vvere then left […] to vievv the aſperityes of the Moon through a Dioptrick-glaſſe, and venture at the Proportion of her Hills by their ſhadovves[…]?"

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