What does it mean to attribute?

Answer 1

Attribute is both a verb and a noun.
As a verb, it means that something was caused by... as in,
"You can attribute his good fortune to his persistency."

As a noun, it means a charachteristic quality. ...as in
Her beauty was her greatest attribute."

The verb has stress on the 'rib', i.e. att - RIB -ute.
The noun has the stress on 'att', i.e. ATT - ribute.

Answer 2

TRANSITIVE VERB:
at·trib·ut·ed , at·trib·ut·ing , at·trib·utes
To relate to a particular cause or source; ascribe: attributed their failure to a lack of preparation.
To regard as the work of a specified agent, place, or time: attributed the painting to Titian; attributed the vase to 18th-century Japan

NOUN:
at·tri·bute (tr-byt)
A quality or characteristic inherent in or ascribed to someone or something.
An object associated with and serving to identify a character, personage, or office: Lightning bolts are an attribute of Zeus.
Grammar A word or phrase syntactically subordinate to another word or phrase that it modifies; for example, my sister's and brown in my sister's brown dog.

Answer 3

inherent quality; characteristic