No Matter How You Say It: Dependability
In Other Languages
Spanish – confianza
French – fiabilité
German – Zuverlässigkeit
Italian – affidabilità
Swedish – pålitlighet
Welsh – dibyniaeth
Polish – rzetelność
Word Origin
De- is the Latin prefix meaning “down” or “from” combined with the word pendere (“to hang”)
Can you see how Dependability is something reliable enough “to hang from.”
Sign Language
Can you see the hanging reference from the Latin in the Depend Sign and Unreliable as the opposite?
Dependability Idioms
As if one’s life depended on it
Old Faithful
Good as your word
Tried and tested
On the dot
Salt of the earth
Old Reliable
Depend on the kindness of strangers
Rock solid
True Blue