Etymograph

English

honest

Honest comes from Middle English honest ‘honourable, appropriate, excellent’, and goes back to Latin honestus ‘full of or regarded with honor’.

  1. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEhonestus1‘full of or regarded with honor’
  2. Old Frenchc. 842–1400honeste1
  3. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500honest1‘honourable’
  4. Englishearliest quotation c. 1597honest1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English honest
  2. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: c. 1597, William Shakespeare, The Merry Wiues of Windsor: “Behold what honest clothes you send forth to bleaching!”.

Lineage

  1. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEhonestusWiktionary, English honest‘full of or regarded with honor’
  2. Old Frenchc. 842–1400honesteWiktionary, English honest
  3. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500honestWiktionary, English honest‘honourable’
  4. Englishearliest quotation c. 1597honestWiktionary, English honest. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: c. 1597, William Shakespeare, The Merry Wiues of Windsor: “Behold what honest clothes you send forth to bleaching!”

The story

For the verb, see Latin honestāre (‘to clothe or adorn with honour’), and compare French honester.

Full etymology on Wiktionary

Every English word from Latin honestus

Today it means

adj Scrupulous with regard to telling the truth; not given to swindling, lying, or fraud; upright.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “honest”. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.

Etymograph / Latin honestus / honest

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