DEFERENCE: respect and esteem due a superior or an elder; also: affected or ingratiating regard for another's wishes
The word "deference" and "defer" both derive from the Lati deferre, which means "to bring down" or "to carry away." At the same time you might also hear that "defer" traces to the Latin differre, which means "to postpone" or "to differ." Which root is right? Both. That's because English has two verbs, or homographs, spelled "defer." One means "to submit or delegate to another" (as in "I defer to your greater expertise"). That's the one tht is closely related to "deference" and that comes from deferre. The other means "put off or delay" (as in "we decided to defer the decision until next month"); that second "defer" derives from differre.
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