credit

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˈkred.ɪt/^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Middle French crédit (“belief, trust; reputation; commercial credit”),^[2][3][4] from Old Italian credito,^[5][4] from Latin crēditum (“a loan, thing entrusted to another”), the neuter past participle of crēdere (“to trust, entrust, believe”).^[3][5][2] Latin crēdere is cognate with Old Irish cretim “I believe” and Sanskrit śraddhā “faith”, from Proto-Indo-European *ḱred-dhē- (“to put trust in”).^[2] The verb is partly from the noun and partly from Latin crēditus.^[2][4] It is related to creed, credence and credible.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

“Belief, faith”: 1542,^[2][7] the 1540s;^[3] Merriam-Webster gives 1529 for the sense “credit in commerce”.^[4] The verb, “to trust someone with goods or money”, is from 1541.^[2][7]

Semantic evolution

The commercial sense, a seller's confidence that a buyer will pay later, developed by the 1570s from the idea of a shopkeeper's trust,^[3][6] though creditor is earlier, about 1435.^[2][3] A sum placed at a person's disposal by a bank is from the 1660s.^[3] Good reputation is from 1576,^[7] something that brings honour from the 1580s,^[3] and honour or acknowledgement of merit from about 1600.^[3] The verb “to believe” is from the 1540s, “to enter on the credit side of an account” from the 1680s, and “to attribute” from 1850.^[3] An academic credit, for completing a course, is by 1904, short for hour of credit (1892).^[3] The credits of a film, naming the people who made it, are by 1914.^[3] Credit union is American English from 1881, and credit rating from 1958.^[3] Give credit where credit is due is from the early 19th century.^[6]

Timeline

• 1541 – verb, to trust with goods on credit.^[2]
• 1542 – belief, faith.^[2][7]
• 1570s – commercial credit.^[3]
• 1576 – good reputation.^[7]
• c. 1600 – acknowledgement of merit.^[3]
• 1660s – a sum at one's disposal.^[3]
• 1680s – verb, to enter as a credit.^[3]
• 1881 – credit union.^[3]
• 1904 – an academic credit.^[3]
• 1914 – film credits.^[3]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. An arrangement to receive goods or money and pay later: buy on credit.
2. Money in an account, or an entry recording a payment received.
3. Praise or recognition for an achievement: take the credit.
4. A source of honour: a credit to the team.
5. Belief or trust: give credit to a rumour.
6. A unit of study counted towards a qualification.
7. (plural) The list of people who worked on a film or programme.

Verb

1. To believe.
2. To attribute something to someone: credited with the discovery.
3. To add money to an account.

Word family

• creditless
• discredit
• precredit
• creditable
• creditworthy
• noncredit
• credit manager
• consumer credit

Related words

• credible
• credibility
• creditor
• credence
• credential
• credo
• creed
• credulous
• incredible
• miscreant

Usage notes

In Scots and Yorkshire dialect credit meant “approval, good repute”.^[8]

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 f g h i Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (2000), 4th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
6. ^ a b c Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b c d e Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)