decency

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin decentia (“comeliness, decency”),^[2][3][4][5] formed from decēns (“becoming, fitting, seemly”) with the noun suffix -ia.^[4][6][7] The adjective is the present participle of decet (“it is fitting, suitable”),^[3][4] the source of decent.^[2][8] Etymonline traces the verb to Proto-Indo-European *dek- (“to take, accept”).^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Appropriateness or fitness to the circumstances, of speech, action or behaviour: 1567, in Thomas Drant's translation of Horace's Art of Poetry;^[2][4] Etymonline dates it to the 1560s.^[3]

Semantic evolution

The first senses were about what suits a situation: fitness of speech or behaviour (1567–1762), what befits a person's rank (1584–1661), and comeliness of form or proportion (1610–77), all now obsolete.^[2] Johnson (1755) still gave "propriety of form; proper formality" as the first sense, quoting Milton's "those thousand decencies".^[9] For a time (1651–1705) it also meant the orderly state of civil society.^[2] The sense of modesty, freedom from impropriety or obscenity, is recorded from 1639,^[2] or the 1630s in Etymonline, which explains it as appropriateness to the standards of society,^[3] and the general sense of proper behaviour from 1682.^[2] Samuel Johnson's Rambler (1751) has the sense of respectability, a standard of living that suits one's position,^[2] and the plural decencies, the observances of decent life, is recorded from Milton (1667).^[2] In Ayrshire a decency was a respectable way of living.^[10]

Timeline

• 1567 – fitness or appropriateness of speech or behaviour (obsolete by 1762).^[2][4]
• 1584 – what befits one's rank or dignity (obsolete).^[2]
• 1639 – modesty, freedom from impropriety.^[2]
• 1651 – decent order of civil life (obsolete by 1705).^[2]
• 1667 – plural, decencies, the proprieties of decent life.^[2]
• 1682 – proper behaviour, regard for what is becoming.^[2]
• 1751 – respectability, a standard of living suited to one's position.^[2]
• 1817 – plural, the outward requirements of a decent life.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. Behaviour that keeps to accepted standards of propriety, morality and modesty: She had the decency to apologize in person.^[11][4][2]
2. The quality of being decent.^[11][4]
3. decencies (plural): the observances or requirements of a decent and respectable life.^[2][7]
4. (archaic) Fitness or suitability to the circumstances.^[4][2]

Word family

• indecency

Related words

• decent
• indecent
• decorum
• decor

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c d e f g h Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
6. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
7. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
10. ^ Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)
11. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins