means a form of government in which power rests with the people and their elected representatives rather than a monarch, with the head of state typically chosen rather than inheriting the role

from From Latin res publica, literally "the public thing" or "the affair of the people" — res (a thing, matter, affair) joined to publicus (of the people). The Romans used it for the commonwealth they shared in common, the business that belonged to everyone and no one. It reached English through French république, but the bones are pure Latin: government reframed not as a king's possession but as a thing held jointly.