entitiy

An entity is anything that has a distinct and independent existence. The term is used across many disciplines to denote a thing that can be referenced, described, and studied. Entities may be concrete, such as a person or a chair, or abstract, such as a number, concept, or event. The word “entity” itself comes from Latin roots related to being or existing; the common misspelling entitiy appears in informal writing but is not standard.

In philosophy, entities are discussed in terms of existence, identity, and persistence. Philosophers distinguish between concrete entities (things that can be perceived) and abstract entities (such as sets or properties). Debates often center on what kinds of things truly exist and how they are related.

In information science and data modeling, an entity represents a real or conceptual object about which data can be stored. In entity-relationship modeling, an entity type defines a class of objects with a common set of attributes, while individual instances are the actual objects. Entities have attributes and participate in relationships with other entities. A primary key uniquely identifies each instance.

In linguistics and natural language processing, named entities are real-world objects referenced in text, such as people, organizations, locations, or dates. Named-entity recognition aims to locate and classify these within documents.

In law and business, a legal entity is an organization that has rights and duties under the law, such as a corporation, partnership, or nonprofit.

Overall, “entity” is a versatile term whose precise meaning depends on context, ranging from metaphysical discussions to practical data management.