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crédit

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Etymology and origin of the French word crédit

Confidence
Probable
Formation
Borrowing
First attested
1481 a document from Mehun-sur-Yèvre, as feminine creditte More words from the 15th century
Borrowed from
Italian credito
Ultimate origin
Latin crēdō
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
Latin crēditum
Italian credito
French crédit
Romanian credit
Spanish crédito
The word's journey
From the same root
Spanish acreditar ← crēditum

Pronunciation

Forms

crédit m (plural crédits)[1] A feminine creditte “claim, debt owed” is found in 1481 and in customaries of 1509–1531.[2]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Italian credito, recorded in Italian from the 14th century for “loan, debt” and then for confidence in someone's ability to pay, confidence in general and influence.[2][3][4][1] The Italian word is from Latin crēditum (“a loan, thing entrusted”), the noun use of the past participle of crēdō (“to believe, entrust as a loan”).[2][5][6]

Bloch and Wartburg separate the senses: the sense of trust (1491), taken directly from the Latin noun, and the banking word, from Italian.[7] The Grand Robert and the GLLF likewise give the Latin noun for the senses of trust and influence and the Italian word for the financial ones.[8][9] The TLFi and the DHLF object that the Latin noun never meant “influence” or “trust”, so that the whole French word is better taken from Italian.[2][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Apart from the feminine creditte of 1481, the word first appears in Commynes' Mémoires (1489–1491) for the influence or standing a person enjoys: two knights had grant credit with the Count of Charolais.[2][4]

Semantic evolution

From the 16th century the stress fell on the trust a person inspires (1539, Estienne).[2][3] The word specialized above all in confidence in someone's ability to pay, a sense that emerges in the customaries of the early 16th century and in the phrases à crédit (about 1508) and lettre de crédit (1563).[2][3] Classical French also used à crédit ironically for “for nothing, in vain”, uses that did not last.[3]

In finance it came to name the sum put at someone's disposal (1819) and, by metonymy, a credit institution (1852, the founding of the Crédit foncier).[2][3] The plural crédits has meant the sums a budget allots to a purpose since 1845, and in bookkeeping crédit has been opposed to débit since 1675.[3][2] In French in contact with English, as in Canada and Mauritius, it is also a unit of university study, a calque of the English word.[3] English credit was borrowed from the French word in the 1540s.[5]

Timeline

  • 1481 – The feminine creditte “claim” appears in a document from Mehun-sur-Yèvre.[2]
  • 1489–1491 – Commynes uses credit for influence and standing.[2][4]
  • c. 1508 – Vendre a credit “to sell without immediate payment” is recorded.[2][3]
  • 1539 – Estienne records the sense “trust”.[2]
  • 1563 – First record of lettre de crédit.[2][3]
  • 1636 – Monet records the sense “confidence in a person's ability to pay”.[2]
  • 1675 – Savary uses it in bookkeeping, opposed to débit.[2]
  • 1819 – Boiste records it for a sum placed at someone's disposal by a bank.[2]
  • 1852 – It names a credit institution, with the founding of the Crédit foncier.[2][3]

Meanings

Noun

  1. (dated) The trust a person or thing inspires;[10][11] donner crédit à a rumour is to believe it.[10][11]
  2. (literary) Influence or standing that comes from this trust: jouir d'un grand crédit.[10][11]
  3. Confidence in someone's ability to pay;[10][11] à crédit “without immediate payment”, faire crédit “to give credit”.[10][11]
  4. A loan, an operation by which one party puts money at another's disposal: carte de crédit.[11][10]
  5. (in the plural) Funds allotted by a budget.[3][9]
  6. (accounting) The credit side of an account, opposed to débit.[2][1]
  7. (higher education) A course credit.[1][3]

Word family

  • créditer
  • accréditer
  • décréditer
  • créditeur
  • discrédit

References

  1. ^ a b c d e 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 q r s Trésor de la langue française informatisé (2004), ATILF – CNRS & Université de Lorraine, atilf.fr/tlfi; electronic version of Imbs, Paul; Quemada, Bernard, eds. (1971–1994), Trésor de la langue française, Paris: CNRS / Gallimard
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  4. ^ a b c Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
  5. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  6. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 2, 1306a
  7. ^ Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
  8. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
  9. ^ a b Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
  10. ^ a b c d e f Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  11. ^ a b c d e f Dictionnaire Le Robert en ligne, dictionnaire.lerobert.com (accessed 2024)

Related etymologies

Cite this entry

“Crédit.” Etymologically, 14 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/fr/cr%C3%A9dit. Accessed 15 Nov. 2026.

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