An Etymological Dictionary of Astronomy and Astrophysics

1. General: Equal sharing of the → total energy among all → components of a → system.
   

2. In the → kinetic theory of gases, the → theorem according to which → molecules in → thermal equilibrium have the same average energy (¹/₂ kT) associated with each independent → degree of freedom of their motion.

See also: → equi-; → partition.