Respective

How to spell respective

10 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce respective

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does respective mean?

1. adjectiveBelonging or relating separately to each of two or more people or things already mentioned.

Respective in a sentence

• After the meeting, the managers returned to their respective offices.

• The two authors signed copies for their respective fans.

Where does respective come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word traces back to the Latin verb respicere, meaning 'to look back at' or 'to regard', formed from re- ('back') and specere ('to look'). From that came the Medieval Latin respectivus, which carried the idea of 'having regard to' or 'relating to' something in particular. English took it in through French in the late 1500s, at first meaning 'attentive' or 'careful', before settling into its modern sense of belonging individually to each of several people or things. The same specere root sits inside familiar relatives such as 'inspect', 'spectacle', and 'respect' itself. A useful spelling anchor is that respective shares its core with 'respect': both keep the spect, the part that literally means looking.

How the word is built

• re- (back)
• spect (look, from Latin specere)
• -ive (adjective suffix)