Respectable

How to spell respectable

11 letters · 4 syllables

How to pronounce respectable

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does respectable mean?

1. adjectiveRegarded by society as decent, proper, or worthy of respect.
2. adjectiveFairly good or sizeable in amount or quality, if not outstanding.

Respectable in a sentence

• He came from a quiet, respectable family in the suburbs.

• The runner finished with a respectable time despite the heat.

• The firm built a respectable reputation over thirty years of honest dealing.

• Their savings reached a respectable sum after years of careful budgeting.

Where does respectable come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word reaches back to the Latin verb respicere, meaning 'to look back at' or 'to regard', which combined the prefix re- ('back, again') with specere ('to look'). From the same family came the Medieval Latin respectabilis, describing something worthy of being looked upon with regard. English adopted the word in the late 1500s, at first meaning simply 'deserving of respect', and by the 1700s it had broadened into the everyday social sense of being decent, proper, and of good standing. The root specere is the same one hiding inside spectator, inspect, and spectacle, all of which involve looking. The spelling trap sits at the end: the word takes -able, not -ible, even though both endings sound like a vague 'uh-bul'.

How the word is built

• re- (back, again)
• spect (from specere: to look)
• -able (capable of, worthy of)