Etymologically
Log in

confident

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 16 October 2026 at 02:09. This address is a permanent link to this version.
Changes in this edit History

Pronunciation

  • IPA: UK /ˈkɒn.fɪ.dənt/, /ˈkɒn.fə.dənt/, US /ˈkɑːn.fə.dənt/[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Middle French confident,[2][3] partly via Italian confidente,[4][5] from Latin cōnfīdēns (“firmly trusting, self-confident, bold”), the present participle of cōnfīdere (“to have full trust”),[2][6] from com- and fīdere (“to trust”).[2][4] It is related to confide, confidence, confidant and diffident.[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

Self-reliant, sure of oneself, bold: 1576 in the OED, the 1570s in Etymonline.[7][2]

Semantic evolution

In a bad sense, over-bold or presumptuous, it is from 1597.[7] The sense “trustful, confiding”, from 1588, is now obsolete.[7][5] “Fully assured, having strong belief” is from about 1600, 1601 in the OED.[2][7] Confident of and confident that are from 1611.[7]

Timeline

  • 1576 – self-reliant.[7]
  • 1588 – trustful (obsolete).[7]
  • 1597 – presumptuous.[7]
  • 1601 – fully assured.[7]

Modern meaning

Adjective

  1. Sure that something will happen or is true: confident of success.
  2. Sure of oneself and one's abilities; self-assured.
  3. Too bold; presumptuous.

Word family

  • confidently
  • hyperconfident
  • nonconfident
  • superconfident
  • ultraconfident
  • unconfident
  • overconfident
  • confidant
  • confidante
  • confide
  • confidence
  • confidential
  • diffident
  • fidelity

References

  1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
  2. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  3. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  4. ^ a b Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  5. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  6. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
  7. ^ a b c d e f g h i Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press