mid-15c., "removal from ecclesiastical office, rank, or position," from Medieval Latin deprivationem (nominative deprivatio), noun of action from past-participle stem of deprivare, from de- "entirely" (see de-) + Latin privare "to deprive, rob, strip" of anything; "to deliver from" anything (see private (adj.)). From 1530s as "act of depriving, a taking away." By 1889 as "state of being deprived."