respektievelijke

Respektievelijke is not a standard Dutch word. It is generally considered a misspelling of respectievelijk, the correct spelling in most contexts. The term respectievelijk exists both as an adverb meaning “in the order given” or “respectively,” and as an attributive adjective form respectievelijke used before a noun to mean “the respective ….”

Usage and meaning

As an adverb, respectievelijk is used to link items or results to their corresponding counterparts in the order they are listed. For example: “De drie gemeenten zijn Amsterdam, Rotterdam en Den Haag, respectievelijk de hoofdsteden van Noord- en Zuid-Holland.” In practice, it equates each item with its counterpart in the same position. As an attributive adjective, the form respectievelijke appears before a noun, as in “de respectievelijke personen,” meaning “the respective persons.”

Etymology

Respectievelijk derives from the Dutch adjective stem respectief, through the form that developed into the adverbial respectievelijk. The word is closely related to the English respectively and shares the same Latin roots via respectivus.

Usage notes

In formal and standard Dutch, use respectievelijk for the adverbial sense and respectievelijke as the attributive adjective before a noun. The spelling respektievelijke is considered nonstandard or incorrect in modern Dutch and should be corrected to respectievelijke when used attributively.

See also

Respectief and respectivus as linguistic roots; respectively as a cross-language cognate.