Etymologically
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credulous

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Pronunciation

  • IPA: /ˈkɹɛd͡ʒələs/, /ˈkɹɛdjələs/[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin crēdulus (“that easily believes, trustful”),[2][3][4][5][6] from Latin crēdere (“to believe”),[2][3][4][5][6] with the suffix -ous.[3][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

Over-ready to believe, apt to believe on weak grounds (1576).[7][3][5]

Semantic evolution

The neutral sense “ready to believe” (1579) is now rare;[7] the word almost always implies believing too easily.[7][2][5] From 1648 it was also applied to things arising from credulity.[7][2][5]

Timeline

  • probably before 1425 – credulity.[3]
  • 1576 – over-ready to believe.[7][3][5]
  • 1579 – ready to believe, now rare.[7]
  • 1648 – of things, arising from credulity.[7]

Modern meaning

Adjective

  1. Too ready to believe, especially on slight evidence; gullible.
  2. Arising from or showing credulity.

Word family

  • credulously
  • credulousness
  • credulity
  • incredulous
  • credo
  • creed

Usage notes

Random House gives believing, trustful and unsuspecting as synonyms.[6]

References

  1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
  3. ^ a b c d e f Barnhart, Robert K., ed. (1995), The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology, New York: HarperCollins
  4. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  5. ^ a b c d e f Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  6. ^ a b c d Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary (1999), 2nd ed., New York: Random House
  7. ^ a b c d e f g Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press