faith

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English feith, also fey,^[2][3] borrowed from Anglo-Norman fed and Old French feid, feit,^[4][5][6] from Latin fidēs (“trust, belief”),^[5][6][7] from the base of fīdō (“to trust”),^[5][7] from Proto-Indo-European *bheidh-,^[4][6] also the source of Ancient Greek πείθεσθαι (peíthesthai, “to be persuaded, to obey”),^[5][6] of Gothic 𐌱𐌰𐌹𐌳𐌾𐌰𐌽 (baidjan, “to compel”) and probably of bide.^[5][6] In Anglo-Norman the word is recorded from 1113–19, already with the senses "faith", "loyalty" and "word of honour".^[8] The “d” of the Old French form was then pronounced like English “th”,^[6][2][9] and the English word kept this sound; the later French form fei, now foi, gave the obsolete English fay.^[10][11] The Latin word also gave fede, fe and fé.^[5][10]

Earliest recorded meaning

Loyalty, fealty, allegiance: about 1250, in the Story of Genesis and Exodus, according to Barnhart.^[6] The OED's first quotation for "faithfulness, loyalty" is from Havelok, about 1300.^[5]

Semantic evolution

The various senses came into English from French within a short time, and most were already present in Latin fidēs and in its Greek counterpart, which the Vulgate rendered by fidēs.^[6] Religious belief is recorded before 1325, a system of religious belief, especially Christianity, about 1384, and confidence or trust in someone about 1390.^[6][5] The sense "a pledge, a solemn promise", as in to give one's faith, dates from about 1405 and is now archaic.^[5] From 1659 the word was also used of a non-religious creed or set of principles.^[5] Johnson (1755) defined it first as "belief of the revealed truths of religion".^[12] Weekley thinks that the “th” survived because of words such as truth and sooth.^[9] In Scotland, Ireland and the south-west of England faith (feth, vath) was a mild exclamation, "indeed, truly".^[13] The verb faith, to believe, is recorded from about 1438 and is now archaic.^[5][2]

Timeline

• c. 1250 – loyalty, fealty, allegiance.^[6] The OED's earliest quotation for faithfulness is from about 1300.^[5]
• before 1325 – belief, especially religious belief, in the Cursor Mundi; the adjective faithful.^[6]
• c. 1384 – a system of religious belief, and the faith, the true religion.^[5]
• c. 1390 – confidence, trust, in Chaucer.^[6]
• c. 1405 – a pledge or solemn promise.^[5]
• c. 1438 – verb, to have faith, believe.^[5]
• 1659 – a non-religious set of beliefs or principles.^[5]
• 1885 – faith healer.^[6]

Meanings

Noun

1. Confident belief in, or trust in, a person, idea or thing: She has faith in her team.^[14][15]
2. Belief that does not rest on proof or evidence.^[14][15]
3. Belief in God or in the doctrines of a religion; in Christian theology, the theological virtue of trust in God.^[14][15][5]
4. A system of religious belief; a religion: people of every faith.^[15][5]
5. Loyalty or allegiance; faithfulness to a promise, as in keep faith, in good faith and bad faith.^[14][5][2]

Verb

1. (archaic) To believe or trust.^[2][5]

Interjection

1. (archaic or dialect) Indeed, truly.^[13][5]

Word family

• faithful
• faithless
• interfaith
• multifaith
• unfaith
• act of faith
• article of faith
• bad faith

Related words

• affidavit
• bide
• fidelity
• fealty
• fay
• confide
• confidence
• defy
• diffident
• fiduciary
• perfidy
• federal
• fiancé

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
3. ^ Skeat, Walter W. (1911), A Concise Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, new ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
7. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
9. ^ a b Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
10. ^ a b Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
11. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
12. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
13. ^ a b 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)
14. ^ a b c d The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
15. ^ a b c d Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins