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faithless

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Etymology and origin of the English word faithless

Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
c. 1390 Langland, Piers Plowman (MS Vernon) More words from the 14th century
Ultimate origins
Anglo-Norman fedOld English -leas
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
English faith
English faithless
From the same root
English faithful ← faith

Pronunciation

  • /ˈfeɪθləs/, /ˈfeɪθlɪs/[1]

Etymology

It is formed from English faith + -less,[2][3][4][5] Middle English feithles.[6][7][5] The OED compares faithful and unfaithful, and for the noun use the earlier infidel.[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Not keeping faith, insincere, disloyal: about 1390, in the Vernon manuscript of Piers Plowman, a text composed before 1376.[2] Etymonline and Dictionary.com put the word earlier, at about 1300 for "unbelieving" and at 1250–1300, and the Middle English Dictionary quotes Cursor Mundi, composed before 1325, in a manuscript of before 1400.[3][5][6]

Semantic evolution

Two lines of meaning run side by side from Middle English: the lack of belief or trust, and the failure to keep faith with others.[2][6][3] The first was often religious, of those who did not hold the faith thought true, as in the Siege of Jerusalem.[2][6] The second became the main sense, and Johnson (1755) gives both, quoting Milton's "Among the faithless, faithful only he".[8][7] From 1597 it could also mean untrustworthy or unstable, in later use especially of things.[2][4] The faithless, non-believers as a class, is recorded from 1533, in More.[2][4]

Timeline

  • c. 1390 – insincere, disloyal, not true to one's promises.[2]
  • before 1400 – lacking confidence or trust (obsolete by 1850); lacking religious faith, unbelieving.[2][6]
  • 1533 – noun, the faithless, people without faith.[2]
  • 1597 – untrustworthy, unreliable, unstable.[2]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. False to promises or duties; disloyal or treacherous: a faithless ally who changed sides twice.[9][7][2]
  2. Not to be relied on; fickle or unstable.[7][9][2]
  3. Having no faith, especially no religious belief.[9][7][2]
  4. (archaic) Not believing or trusting.[7][2][4]

Noun

  1. the faithless: people without faith, as a class.[2][4]

Word family

  • faithlessly
  • faithlessness

Usage notes

Etymonline quotes the Century Dictionary's distinction: "the sleeping sentinel is unfaithful; the deserter is faithless."[3]

References

  1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ a b c d e Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  5. ^ a b c Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
  6. ^ a b c d e Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
  7. ^ a b c d e f Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  8. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
  9. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
Cite this entry

“Faithless.” Etymologically, 7 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/en/faithless. Accessed 7 Nov. 2026.

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