rēctus

Meaning

1. participleled straight along, drawn in a straight line, straight, upright.
   Quae rectis lineis suos ordines servantWhich preserve their order in straight linesc. 52 BCE, Julius Caesar, Commentarii de bello Gallico VII.23
2. participleusuallyright, correct, proper, appropriate, befitting.
3. participlemorally right, correct, lawful, just, virtuous, noble, good, proper, honest.
   Via stultī rēcta in oculīs eius; quī autem sapiēns est audit cōnsilia.The way of a fool is right in his own eyes: but he that is wise hearkeneth unto counsels. (Douay-Rheims trans., Challoner rev.: 1752 CE)c. 347 CE – 420 CE, Hieronymus, Vulgate Proverbs.12.15

Latīnē defined in Latin in our graded readers

quī nōn hūc illūc it; columna rēcta ad caelum surgit.

rēctus -a -um — in Mille Verba, Templum Graecum

straight, right

rēctus -a -um — in Viri Romae Facillimi, ch. 10, 11, 20, 25, 26

Lewis & Short A Latin Dictionary, 1879

Origins

1. Proto-Indo-European*h₃reǵ-
2. Proto-Indo-European*h₃reǵtós
3. Proto-Italic*rektos
4. Latinrēctus

Perfect passive participle of regō (“to keep or lead straight, to guide”). Inherited from Proto-Italic *rektos, corresponding to Proto-Indo-European *h₃reǵtós (“having moved in a straight line”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₃reǵ- (“to straighten, direct”). The vowel is long because of Lachmann's law.