English
presentity
Blend of presence + entity; first introduced in the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETC) RFC 2778.
Latin sum ‘to be’
Latin praesum ‘to be before; to preside’
Latin praesēns ‘present, at hand’
Latin praesentia ‘a being present’
Old French presence
English presence
Proto-Indo-European *bʰuH- ‘to be, become, grow, appear’
…
Old Latin esum
Latin sum ‘to be, exist’
Medieval Latin ēns ‘being’
Medieval Latin entitās
English entity
The story
Blend of presence + entity; first introduced in the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETC) RFC 2778.
Today it means
noun An entity (usually a human) which provides information about its presence (whether it is available and willing to communicate through communication services).
Sources
Sources: Wiktionary, “presentity”. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.
Etymograph / presentity