confidant

Etymology

Most dictionaries take it as borrowed from French confident,^{[2][3][4][5][6][7]} from Italian confidente (“trusty friend; trustworthy”),^{[2][3][4][5][6]} the noun use of the adjective,^[3][7] from Latin cōnfīdēns (“trusting, relying”), the present participle of cōnfīdō (“to trust, rely on”),^[2][5][6] from com- and fīdō (“to trust”),^[5] from Proto-Indo-European *bheidh- (“to trust, confide, persuade”).^[5] The Oxford dictionaries explain the -a- as an alteration of the earlier English noun confident, probably to represent the pronunciation of confidente.^[8][9] The OED, in an entry not fully revised, says the word appears with its feminine confidante after 1700, when confident, stressed on the first syllable, had been used for nearly a century in a kindred sense.^[10] It notes that Cotgrave has confidant with confident as a by-form, while Littré quotes confident from the 16th century and knows nothing of confidant.^[10] The English form may therefore have been taken as the correct French one, or may only imitate the French ending.^[10] The Italian verb would give a participle confidante, but that is not found in the required sense.^[10]

Earliest recorded meaning

A person trusted with private affairs: Etymonline dates this to the 1610s in the spelling confident,^[5] and Merriam-Webster Unabridged to 1646.^[4] The Shorter Oxford and the Oxford Dictionary of English date confidant to the mid 17th century,^[8][9] Dictionary.com to 1705–15,^[7] and the OED's first quotation is from Smollett's Peregrine Pickle (1751).^[10]

Semantic evolution

According to Etymonline the spelling with -a- and the stress on the last syllable came to predominate in the 18th century, perhaps reflecting the French pronunciation.^[5] At first the word was closely tied to love affairs: Johnson (1755) defined it as a person trusted with private affairs, "commonly with affairs of love".^[11][10] It later widened and took over the place of the noun confident.^[10] Etymonline describes the early use as male,^[5] and Collins still says that it is especially a man, the feminine being confidante.^[3][8] From the 1870s it could be followed by of.^[10] Scott used it in 1816 as a rare adjective, entrusted with a secret.^[10] The feminine also named a type of settee from the late 18th century.^[8]

Timeline

• 1610s – confident, a person trusted with private affairs.^[5]
• 1646 – a trusted friend, especially one told secrets.^[4] The Oxford dictionaries date the alteration to the mid 17th century.^[8][9]
• 1751 – the spelling confidant, of a person trusted especially with love affairs.^[10]
• 1816 – adjective, entrusted with a secret (rare).^[10]
• 1874 – used with of.^[10]

Meanings

Noun

1. A person to whom one confides private matters or secrets, originally especially love affairs.^{[3][4][10][8]}
2. A trusted friend or associate.^[4]

Adjective

1. (rare) Entrusted with a secret; privy to it.^[10]

Related words

• confide
• confident
• confidence
• diffident
• fidelity
• faith

Usage notes

Merriam-Webster Unabridged records confident as a less common spelling of the noun.^[4] The feminine form is confidante.^[3][8]

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
3. ^ a b c d e f Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
4. ^ a b c d e f g Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ a b c Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
7. ^ a b c Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
8. ^ a b c d e f g Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ a b c Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
10. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
11. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.