different between worthy vs estimable

English

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?w??ði/
• (General American) enPR: wûr'th?, IPA^(key): /?w?ði/
• Rhymes: -??(r)ði
• Hyphenation: wor?thy

Etymology 1

From Middle English worthy, wurthi, from Old English *weorþi? (“"worthy"”), equivalent to worth +? -y. Cognate with Dutch waardig (“worthy”), Middle Low German werdig (“worthy”), German würdig (“worthy”), Swedish värdig (“worthy”), Icelandic verðugt (“worthy”).

Adjective

worthy (comparative worthier, superlative worthiest)

1. having worth, merit, or value
   • c. 1626, John Davies, The Original, Nature, and Immortality of the Soul

     This worthy mind should worthy things embrace.

2. honourable or admirable
3. deserving, or having sufficient worth
4. Suited; befitting.
   • […] whose shoes I am not worthy to bear.

   • The lodging is well worthy of the guest.

Derived terms

• markworthy
• noteworthy
• worthily
• worthiness

Related terms

• worthly

Translations

Noun

worthy (plural worthies)

1. a distinguished or eminent person

Related terms

• -worthy
• unworthy

Etymology 2

From Middle English worthien, wurthien, from Old English weorþian (“to esteem, honor, worship, distinguish, celebrate, exalt, praise, adorn, deck, enrich, reward”), from Proto-Germanic *werþ?n? (“to be worthy, estimate, appreciate, appraise”), from Proto-Indo-European *wert- (“to turn, wind”). Cognate with German werten (“to rate, judge, grade, score”), Swedish värdera (“to evaluate, rate, size up, assess, estimate”), Icelandic virða (“to respect, esteem”).

Verb

worthy (third-person singular simple present worthies, present participle worthying, simple past and past participle worthied)

1. (transitive) To render or treat as worthy; exalt; revere; honour; esteem; respect; value; reward; adore.
   • c. 1603-1606, William Shakespeare, King Lear

     And put upon him such a deal of man,
     That worthied him, got praises of the king […]

   • 1880, Sir Norman Lockyer, Nature:

     After having duly paid his addresses to it, he generally spends some time on the marble slab in front of the looking-glass, but without showing the slightest emotion at the sight of his own reflection, or worthying it with a song.

   • 1908, Edward Arthur Brayley Hodgetts, The court of Russia in the nineteenth century:

     And it is a poor daub besides," the Emperor rejoined scornfully, as he stalked out of the gallery without worthying the artist with a look.

   • 1910, Charles William Eliot, The Harvard classics: Beowulf:

     No henchman he worthied by weapons, if witness his features, his peerless presence!

Derived terms

• worthier
• worthying

Middle English

Etymology

From worth +? -y, from Old English weorþ.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?w?rði?/

Adjective

worthy

1. worthy

Descendants

• English: worthy

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Middle French estimable.

Adjective

estimable (comparative more estimable, superlative most estimable)

1. Worthy of esteem; admirable.
   • 1868, Louisa May Alcott, Little Women, ch. 22:

     Mr. March told . . . how devoted Brooke had been, and how he was altogether a most estimable and upright young man.

2. (archaic) Valuable.
   • 1596, William Shakespeare, The Merchant of Venice, act 1, scene 3:

     A pound of man's flesh taken from a man

     Is not so estimable, profitable neither,

     As flesh of muttons, beefs, or goats.

3. Capable of being estimated; estimatable.
   • 1928, Louis Kahlenberg and Norbert Barwasser, "On the time of Absorption and Excretion of Boric Acid in Man," Journal of Biological Chemistry, volume 79, iss. 2, page 406:

     After this time boric acid is always present in estimable amounts.

Further reading

• estimable at OneLook Dictionary Search

French

Etymology

From estimer +? -able

Adjective

estimable (plural estimables)

1. estimable, creditable
2. esteemed

Further reading

• “estimable” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

Spanish

Adjective

estimable (plural estimables)

1. esteemed, admirable
2. estimable (capable of being estimated)

Related terms

• estimado