Etymologically
Log in

reliable

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 16 October 2026 at 12:43. This address is a permanent link to this version.
Changes in this edit History

Pronunciation

  • IPA: /rɪˈlaɪ.ə.bəl/[1]

Etymology

It is formed from rely and the suffix -able.[2][3][4][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

1569, in Scots, as raliabill:[2][6][3][5] that may be relied on, trustworthy.[4][6]

Semantic evolution

The form reliable, trustworthy, safe, sure, is from 1624.[2] The word was not in common use before 1850,[2][3][4] and for some time after that it was condemned in Britain as an American barbarism,[2][4] because it uses -able differently from provable and other words, in a way classical Latin does not warrant.[4] The OED and the Century Dictionary defended it on the analogy of available, laughable and dependable,[4] and Barnhart notes that it occurs in Coleridge, Gladstone and Trevelyan.[2] As a noun, a reliable person or thing, it is from 1890,[6] and in statistics, yielding consistent results when repeated, from 1892.[6] Reliability is from the 19th century.[3]

Timeline

  • 1569 – raliabill, in Scots.[2][6]
  • 1624 – reliable.[2]
  • c. 1850 – in common use.[3][4]
  • 1890 – a reliable person or thing.[6]
  • 1892 – in statistics.[6]

Modern meaning

Adjective

  1. Able to be relied on; dependable or trustworthy.
  2. Consistently good in quality or performance.
  3. (statistics) Giving consistent results when repeated.

Word family

  • reliability
  • reliably
  • reliableness
  • nonreliable
  • ultrareliable
  • reliance
  • rely
  • unreliable

Usage notes

The AHD compares reliable with dependable, responsible, trustworthy and trusty, which all mean worthy of reliance or trust.[7]

References

  1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  3. ^ a b c d e Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  4. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  5. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  6. ^ a b c d e f g Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin