Etymology

respect

re·spect
R1E1S1P3E1C3T1

Today it means: An attitude of consideration or high regard; a feeling of admiration or esteem. Full definition →

Middle English respect ← Old French respect ← Latin respectus
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The story

  1. Proto-Italic*wre-
  2. Latinre-
  3. Proto-Indo-European*speḱ-
  4. Proto-Indo-European*spéḱyeti
  5. Proto-Italic*spekjō
  6. Latinspeciō
  7. Latinrespiciō
  8. Latinrespectus
  9. Old Frenchrespect
  10. Middle Englishrespect
  11. English todayrespect

From Middle English respect, from Old French respect, also respit (“respect, regard, consideration”), from Latin respectus (“a looking at, regard, respect”), perfect passive participle of respiciō (“look at, look back upon, respect”), from re- (“back”) + speciō (“to see”), equivalent to re- + -spect. Doublet of respite. The verb is derived from the noun.

Words from the same roots

Latinrespectus all →

respectiverespiteirrespective of

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.