probity

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English probite, also probyte,^[2][3][4] borrowed from Middle French probité (“strict honesty, integrity”) and directly borrowed from Latin probitās (“moral integrity, uprightness”),^[5][6][7] from probus (“good, upright, honest”) and the suffix -tās.^[5][8] The American Heritage Dictionary and Etymonline call the immediate source Old French,^[2][4] while the OED, Barnhart and Merriam-Webster say Middle French;^[5][3][9] the French word itself is recorded only from 1429–30.^[5] The OED compares Catalan probitat, Spanish probidad and Italian probità.^[5] It explains the adjective, a cognate of Paelignian pros and Umbrian prufe, as a compound of the Indo-European base of prō and that of fuisse (“to have been”), with an original sense "growing or progressing well";^[5] Weekley had the same analysis,^[10] and the American Heritage Dictionary refers the word to Proto-Indo-European *per-.^[2] The Latin adjective is also the source of prove.^[4][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Strong moral principle, integrity: about 1425, in the Book of Foundation of St Bartholomew's.^[5][3] Dictionary.com, Hoad and Collins put the word only in the 16th century.^[11][6][12]

Semantic evolution

The word has kept a single sense from its first record, the moral integrity and honesty that the Latin noun already meant.^[5] Johnson (1755) defined it as "honesty; sincerity; veracity" and quoted Pope's line "By justice, truth, and probity of mind".^[13] Etymonline's gloss, "tried virtue or integrity, strict honesty", and Merriam-Webster Unabridged's, a complete adherence to the highest principles, show the strong sense it has in present use.^[4][9]

Timeline

• c. 1425 – integrity, honesty, as probyte.^[5][3] Dictionary.com dates the word to 1505–15.^[11]

Meanings

Noun

1. Firm integrity and adherence to moral principle; honesty, uprightness: No one who knew the judge ever doubted her probity.^[9][12][5]

Word family

• improbity

Related words

• probe
• prove
• probate
• probation
• approve
• reprove
• reprobate
• superb

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
3. ^ a b c d e Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
4. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
9. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
10. ^ Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
11. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
12. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
13. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.