Etymology

respectable

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Today it means: Deserving respect. Full definition →

English respect ← Middle English respect ← Old French respect
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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. Englishrespectde
  12. Englishrespect
  13. English todayrespectable

From respect + -able.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.