believe
Meaning
- To accept as true, particularly without absolute certainty (i.e., as opposed to knowing).
- To accept that someone is telling the truth.
- To have religious faith; to believe in a greater truth.
- To opine, think, reckon.
- [with in]
- [with in]
- [with in]
Frequency
Hyphenated as
be‧lieve
Pronounced as (IPA)
/bɪˈliːv/
Etymology
From Middle English beleven, bileven, from Old English belīefan (“to believe”), from Proto-West Germanic *bilaubijan (“to believe”), equivalent to be- + leave (“to give leave or permission to, permit, allow, grant”). Cognate with Scots beleve (“to believe”), Middle Low German belö̂ven (“to believe”), Middle High German belouben (“to believe”). A related term in Old English was ġelīefan (“to be dear to; believe, trust”), from Proto-West Germanic *galaubijan (“to have faith, believe”), from Proto-Germanic *galaubijaną. Compare also Old English ġelēafa (“belief, faith, confidence, trust”), Old English lēof ("dear, valued, beloved, pleasant, agreeable" > English lief). Related also to North Frisian leauwjen (“to believe”), West Frisian leauwe (“to believe”), Dutch geloven (“to believe”), German glauben (“to believe”), Gothic 𐌲𐌰𐌻𐌰𐌿𐌱𐌾𐌰𐌽 (galaubjan, “to hold dear, valuable, or satisfactory, approve of, believe”). The prepositionally transitive senses with in are a semantic loan from Latin crēdō in aliquem / aliquid.
Cognate with English
lief
Cognate with Western Frisian
leauwe
Cognate with Dutch
geloven
Cognate with German
glauben
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