Diet (assembly)

In politics, a Diet is a formal deliberative assembly. The term is derived from Medieval Latin dietas, and ultimately comes from the Latin dies, "day." The word came to be used in this sense because these assemblies met on a daily basis.

Historic uses

In this sense, it commonly refers to the Reichstag assemblies of the Holy Roman Empire; see Reichstag (institution), Diet of Nuremberg, and Diet of Worms.

The Riksdag of the Estates was the diet of the four estates of Sweden, from the 15th century until 1866. The Diet of Finland, was the successor to the Riksdag of the Estates in the Grand Duchy of Finland, from 1809 to 1918.

Current uses

In a democratic government, it refers to the legislative branch, for example Congress, Landtag, Sejm or Diet of Japan.

This word is pronounced dee-it (with a long E sound rather than a long I sound), as in the word deity.