Meaning

noun a political system in which the supreme power lies in a body of citizens who can elect people to represent them

noun a form of government whose head of state is not a monarch

originEtymology tree Proto-Indo-European *(H)reh₁-der. Proto-Indo-European *(H)reh₁ís Proto-Italic *reis Latin rēs Proto-Italic *poplosder. Old Latin poplusder. Old Latin poplicus Latin pūblicus Latin pūblica Latin rēspūblica Latin rēpūblicālbor. Middle French republiquebor. English republic From Middle French republique (“republic”), from Latin rēspūblicā, from rēs (“thing”) + pūblica (“public”);…

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 3.0