respectability

Etymology

It is formed from English respectable + -ity;^[2][3][4] compare the combined suffix -ability.^[2][5] Respectable is formed from respect and -able,^[2][3][6] the verb being from French respecter (“to look back; to respect”), from Latin respiciō (“to look back at, regard, consider”), from re- (“back”) and speciō (“to look at”), from Proto-Indo-European *spek- (“to observe”).^[3] French respectabilité, recorded from 1784, was formed after the English noun.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

The state of being respectable, especially in character or social standing: 1769, in the Gazetteer & New Daily Advertiser of 11 November.^[2] Etymonline has 1777,^[3] and Dictionary.com 1775–85.^[4]

Semantic evolution

The noun arrived shortly after respectable came to be applied to persons of honest reputation, a use Etymonline dates from 1755.^[3] Beside the moral and social sense it could mean worth considering or significance, a use recorded from 1780 to 1817.^[2] Social standing then gave the concrete uses: the respectable people of a place as a group, from 1808,^[2][3] the features of behaviour regarded as respectable, in the plural, from 1809,^[2] and a single respectable person, from 1837, in Carlyle.^[2] The OED marks the group sense now rare,^[2] and the Shorter Oxford the person.^[5] By 1896 the word could also describe a respectable size or quality.^[2] Modern dictionaries add acceptance as valid or important within a particular field.^[7][5]

Timeline

• 1769 – the state of being respectable in character or social standing.^[2] Etymonline dates the word to 1777.^[3]
• 1780 – the quality of being worth considering; significance (obsolete by 1817).^[2]
• 1808 – the respectable people of a place, as a group.^[2][3]
• 1809 – in the plural, the features of life or behaviour regarded as respectable.^[2]
• 1837 – a respectable person, in Carlyle.^[2][8]
• 1896 – the fact of being of a respectable size or quality.^[2][8]

Meanings

Noun

1. The quality or state of being respectable; social standing or acceptability: She prized her family's respectability above its money.^[7][6][2][9]
2. The quality of being accepted as valid or serious within a field: The theory slowly gained scholarly respectability.^[7][5]
3. In the plural, the conventional features of life or behaviour regarded as respectable; decencies.^[2][6][5]
4. The fact of being of a respectable size or quality.^[2]
5. (rare) A respectable person, or respectable people as a group.^[2][5][6]

Word family

• semirespectability
• unrespectability

Related words

• respectable
• respect

References

1. ^ 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 u Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g h Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
5. ^ a b c d e f Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
7. ^ a b c Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ a b Kay, Christian; Roberts, Jane; Samuels, Michael; Wotherspoon, Irené, eds. (2009), Historical Thesaurus of the Oxford English Dictionary, Oxford: Oxford University Press; online edition (2024)
9. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin