respectful

Etymology

It is formed from English respect + -ful.^[2][3][4][5] The OED compares the earlier respectless and the slightly later respectuous.^[2] The noun respect is from Old French respect, also directly from Latin respectus (“regard, a looking back”),^[4][6] the noun use of the past participle of respiciō (“to look back at, regard”), formed from re- (“back”) and speciō (“to look at”),^[4][6] from Proto-Indo-European *spek- (“to observe”).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Mindful, heedful or careful of something: 1585, in Bilson's True Difference.^[2][3] Dictionary.com dates the word 1590–1600,^[7] and Etymonline to the 1580s with the sense "characterized by respect", implied in respectfully.^[4]

Semantic evolution

The first sense, "heedful", lasted until 1787 in the OED, though only until the mid-17th century in the Shorter Oxford.^[2][5] The modern sense, "full of or showing respect; deferential", follows in 1593, in Harvey's Pierces Supererogation,^[2] and applied both to people and to gestures and attitudes.^[2] The adverb is a little older than this sense, recorded before 1586 in Sidney's Arcadia.^[2] From 1613 the word could also mean "worthy of respect", now rare and marked as dead by the Shorter Oxford and Merriam-Webster.^[2][5][3] Etymonline dates the meaning "full of outward civility" to the 1680s,^[4] and Johnson (1755) gave only that: "ceremonious; full of outward civility", quoting Prior.^[8] The adverb was used in letter subscriptions by about 1777 in the OED,^[2] and by 1812 in Etymonline.^[4]

Timeline

• 1585 – mindful, heedful, careful of something (obsolete by 1787).^[2][3]
• 1593 – full of or showing respect, deferential, in Harvey.^[2]
• 1613 – worthy of respect (now rare).^[2]
• before 1627 – showing respect, followed by of.^[2]
• 1650 – considerate (obsolete by 1665).^[2]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Feeling or showing respect; deferential or polite: She gave the old judge a respectful nod.^[9][3][2]
2. Followed by of: showing regard for something.^[2][5]
3. (rare) Worthy of respect; respectable.^[2][3]
4. (obsolete, 1585–1787) Heedful or careful, usually followed by of.^[2][3][5]

Word family

• respectfully
• respectfulness
• unrespectful

Related words

• respect
• respectable
• disrespectful
• respectless

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 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ 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
6. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
7. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
8. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
9. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins