dignity

Etymology

From Middle English dignyte, from Old French dignité, from Latin dīgnitās (“worthiness, merit, dignity, grandeur, authority, rank, office”), from dīgnus (“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.

noun

1. The state of being dignified or worthy of esteem: elevation of mind or character.
   Every individual shall have the right to the respect of the dignity inherent in a human being. 1981, African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights, art. 5
2. Decorum, formality, stateliness.
   Official DIGNITY tends to increase in inverse ratio to the importance of the country in which the office is held. 1934, Aldous Huxley, “Puerto Barrios”, in Beyond the Mexique Bay
3. High office, rank, or station.
   He ... distributed the civil and military dignities among his favourites and followers. 1781, Edward Gibbon, The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, F. III. 231
4. One holding high rank; a dignitary.
5. (obsolete) Fundamental principle; axiom; maxim.
6. (euphemistic) The male genitalia.