late 14c., privacioun, "condition of being without (something);" mid-15c., "act of depriving, act of removing or destroying property;" from Old French privacion and directly from Latin privationem (nominative privatio) "a taking away," noun of action from past-participle stem of privare "to deprive, rob, strip" of anything; "to deliver from" anything (see private (adj.)). Broader meaning "state of being deprived, want of life's comforts or of some necessity" is attested from 1790.