Etymologically
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dependable

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Pronunciation

  • /dɪˈpendəb(ə)l/, /dəˈpendəb(ə)l/[1]

Etymology

It is formed from English depend + -able.[2][3][4][5] Depend is from Old French dependre (“to hang from, hang down”) and directly from Latin dēpendeō (“to hang from; to be dependent on”), from dē- (“from, down”) and pendeō (“to hang”),[3][2] from Proto-Indo-European *(s)pen- (“to draw, stretch, spin”).[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

That can be depended on; trustworthy, reliable: 1730, in the correspondence of A. Pope.[2][6] Etymonline and Merriam-Webster's Unabridged date it to 1735,[3][7] Dictionary.com to 1725–35,[5] and the Shorter Oxford to the mid-18th century.[4]

Semantic evolution

The adjective took its sense from the verb depend in its meaning "to rely, rest with confidence", which Etymonline dates from about 1500,[3] and it has kept this one meaning.[2][7] The Shorter Oxford dates the derivatives dependableness and dependably to the mid-19th century and dependability to the early 20th.[4]

Timeline

  • 1730 – trustworthy, reliable.[2] Etymonline and Merriam-Webster's Unabridged date the word to 1735.[3][7]
  • mid 19th century – dependableness and dependably.[4]
  • early 20th century – dependability.[4]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Able to be depended on; reliable and trustworthy: She proved a dependable partner throughout the project.[8][7][9][10]

Word family

  • dependability
  • dependably
  • dependableness
  • undependable

Usage notes

The American Heritage Dictionary and Merriam-Webster discuss dependable among the synonyms of reliable, with trustworthy and trusty.[9][7]

References

  1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ a b c d e Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  5. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
  6. ^ Kay, Christian; Roberts, Jane; Samuels, Michael; Wotherspoon, Irené, eds. (2009), Historical Thesaurus of the Oxford English Dictionary, Oxford: Oxford University Press; online edition (2024)
  7. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  8. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
  9. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
  10. ^ Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press