dignity

Meaning

  1. The state of being dignified or worthy of esteem: elevation of mind or character.
  2. Decorum, formality, stateliness.
  3. High office, rank, or station.
  4. One holding high rank; a dignitary.
  5. (obsolete) Fundamental principle; axiom; maxim.

Frequency

B2
Pronounced as (IPA)
/ˈdɪɡnɪti/
Etymology

In summary

Inherited from Middle English dignyte, from Old French dignité, from Latin dignitās (“worthiness, merit, dignity, grandeur, authority, rank, office”), from dignus (“worthy, appropriate”), from Proto-Italic *degnos, from Proto-Indo-European *dḱ-nos, from *deḱ- (“to take”). See also decus (“honor, esteem”) and decet (“it is fitting”). Cognate to deign. Doublet of dainty. In this sense, displaced native Old English weorþsċipe, which became Modern English worship.

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