The story
- Old French · derived fromhonesté
- Middle English · inherited fromhoneste“honour, integrity”
- English todayhonesty
From Middle English honeste (“honour, integrity”), from Old French honesté (compare modern French honnêteté). By surface analysis, honest + -y. Displaced native Old English sōþfæstnes and non-native Middle English prodonomee, from Old French prodomie. The plant is named so after the visibility of the seeds through the translucent pods.
Words from the same roots
Old Frenchhonesté all →
honest
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.