Reputabilities

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A quality or state of being reputable, often reflecting trustworthiness and respectability in character or behavior
2. The degree to which an individual or entity is regarded positively in public perception or among peers
3. An attribute indicating the overall standing or esteem someone holds within a community or profession

Etymology: Behind this noun is the Latin "reputare", meaning to reckon up or consider again, built from "re-" and "putare", "to reckon" or "to count". The same root gives English "compute" and "account", so a reputation began as a kind of mental tally of how someone had been judged. "Repute" reached English through Old French, carrying the sense of a judgment formed by others. "Reputable" describes someone worthy of being thought well of, and "reputability" turns that quality into an abstract noun by adding the suffix "-ity", from Latin "-itas". This is a straightforward derivation with no single coiner or famous story behind it. The plural is the same noun pluralized, used when a person's standing differs across circles, such as a surgeon's standing among colleagues compared with their standing among patients.