believe

Lineage

The story

Believing once had a surprisingly physical flavor: to believe someone may originally have meant to hold that person dear, valuable, or trustworthy. The Old English form was belyfan or belīefan, and one influential analysis breaks it into be- plus a form related to “leave”—as if belief involved granting something permission to remain in the mind. But the trail is contested: other evidence connects it with Old English lēof, “dear,” and German glauben, all pointing toward the idea of valuing or approving something. By the early 14th century, believe had expanded from personal trust to accepting testimony and doctrines without complete proof; its spelling beleeve remained common until the 17th century. So belief is not merely an idea parked in the head—it is, etymologically, something you treat as worth keeping.

Related words

Synonyms

trust, accept, credit, suppose

Antonyms

doubt, disbelieve

Confused with

belief, believable, behalf

See also

credo, credulity, make-believe, think

Words from the same roots

Sources

• Etymonlinebelieve, be-, leave, think, incroyable, make-believe, consider
• Urban Dictionarybelieve
• Wiktionarybelieve, be-, leave