Etymology, English, Population

Etymology

Borrowed from Late Latin populatio (“a people, multitude”), as if a noun of action from Classical Latin populus, from Old Latin populus (since mid-2nd c. BC), from earlier poplus, from even earlier poplos (attested already since early 5th c. BC^[1]), from Proto-Italic *poplos (“army”), further origin unknown; perhaps from Etruscan or from the root of pleō.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˌpɒpjʊˈleɪʃən/
• IPA^(key): /pɒpjuːˈleɪʃən/

Noun

population (plural populations)

1. The people living within a political or geographical boundary.

   The population of New Jersey will not stand for this!

2. (by extension) The people with a given characteristic.

   India has the third-largest population of English-speakers in the world.

3. A count of the number of residents within a political or geographical boundary such as a town, a nation or the world.

   The town’s population is only 243.

   population explosion;  population growth

4. (biology) A collection of organisms of a particular species, sharing a particular characteristic of interest, most often that of living in a given area.

   A seasonal migration annually changes the populations in two or more biotopes drastically, many twice in opposite senses.

5. (statistics) A group of units (persons, objects, or other items) enumerated in a census or from which a sample is drawn.
6. (computing) The act of filling initially empty items in a collection.

   John clicked the Search button and waited for the population of the list to complete.