repute

Etymology

The verb is inherited from Middle English reputen,^[2][3][4][5] borrowed from Old French reputer (“to hold, consider”)^[6][7][2] and directly borrowed from Latin reputō (“to reckon up, think over”),^[6][7][2] from re- and putō (“to reckon, think”).^[6][7][5] The Anglo-Norman verb is recorded from the early 13th century.^[8] Etymonline takes the Latin putō from an original "to clean, trim, prune", from Proto-Indo-European *pau- (“to cut, strike, stamp”).^[7][5] The noun is formed from the verb by conversion, later than reputation.^[6][9][7][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

To assign or attribute something to a person: before 1425, in the Northern Pauline Epistles (Romans 4:3).^[6] Barnhart has the verb about 1399, meaning "to believe", and Etymonline in the late 14th century;^[3][7] the OED's first quotation for that sense, from Mum and the Sothsegger, is given as about 1475, from a text of about 1399.^[6]

Semantic evolution

Latin reputō was a word of reckoning and reflecting, and by the time of Tertullian it could mean "to impute" and "to regard as".^[6] English took it up in these judging senses: in the 15th century to consider someone to be something.^[6][2] From 1445 it also meant to hold someone in esteem.^[6] In later use the verb is chiefly passive, as "to be held or believed to be".^[6] A past participle repute, without an ending, lasted as an adjective from 1442 to 1861, in later use only in the phrase habit and repute;^[6] Barnhart says that reputed replaced it from 1549.^[3] The noun began as the fame or credit for being something (1539),^[6][10] and Barnhart and Etymonline give "opinion, estimate" in the 1550s, though the OED has that sense only from 1610 and calls it now rare.^[3][7][6] From the 1590s it was the degree of esteem in which someone is held, and the state of being highly thought of.^[6] Johnson (1755) defined the noun as "character; reputation" and "established opinion", and the verb as "to hold; to account; to think".^[11]

Timeline

• before 1425 – to attribute something to a person.^[6] Barnhart dates this sense before 1400.^[3]
• 1425 – to consider someone or something to be such and such.^[6] Barnhart has this in 1442.^[3]
• 1442 – repute, adjective, reputed, considered (obsolete by 1861).^[6][2]
• 1445 – to hold in esteem, to value.^[6]
• 1539 – noun, fame or credit for something.^[6][10]
• 1579 – intransitive, to think highly of (obsolete by 1728).^[6]
• 1597 – noun, the degree of esteem in which someone is held.^[6]
• 1598 – noun, high regard, distinction.^[6] Barnhart dates this to 1615, and Etymonline to the 1610s.^[3][7]
• 1610 – noun, opinion, estimate.^[6] Barnhart has this in 1551.^[3]
• before 1656 – by repute, in common opinion.^[6]

Meanings

Noun

1. The general opinion of someone or something; reputation of a stated kind: a physician of good repute.^[12][10][6]
2. High regard; a good name; distinction: Her early novels brought her repute.^[6][9]
3. by repute: according to common opinion: I know him only by repute.^[6]
4. (obsolete) Opinion, estimate.^[10][9]
5. (obsolete) Position or rank.^[10][9]

Verb

1. To consider or deem; chiefly in the passive, to be generally held to be something: The old inn is reputed to be haunted.^[12][10][6]
2. To attribute something to a person.^[6][2]
3. (obsolete, 1579–1728) To hold an opinion of something, especially a high one.^[6][10]

Word family

• disrepute
• reputable
• reputation
• reputed

Related words

• putative
• compute
• dispute
• impute
• depute

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
4. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
5. ^ a b c The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z 27 28 29 30 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b c d e f g h Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
8. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
9. ^ a b c d Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
10. ^ a b c d e f g Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
11. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
12. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins