The term "substance," from the Latin sub "under" and stare "to stand," which is a translation of the Greek term hypostasis, from hypo ("under") and histami ("to stand"), refers to that which underlies and supports its attributes and properties. The term "attribute," from the Latin ad "to" and tribuere "ascribe," refers to that which is ascribed to a thing. Hence an attribute is that which is proper to a thing, its essential property. Loosely, it refers to a quality or characteristic of a thing. In metaphysics an attribute is what is indespensible to a spiritual and physical substance; or that which expresses the nature of a thing; or that without which a thing is unthinkable. As such, an attribute implies necessarily a relation to some substance of which it is an aspect or an element in its conception. Attributes are said to inhere in their substance.