candid (English)
Where does "candid" come from?
The English adjective 'candid' ultimately traces back to the Proto-Indo-European root '*(s)kend-', meaning 'to shine or glow'[4]. This root evolved into the Latin verb 'candeō', meaning 'I shine', which combined with the suffix '-idus' to form the Latin adjective 'candidus', meaning 'white'[2][4]. English borrowed the word directly from this Latin source[1]. Over time, the visual sense of shining and whiteness shifted metaphorically to describe qualities of purity, openness, and freedom from bias.
Open questions
- The ultimate origin rests on the reconstructed Proto-Indo-European root *(s)kend-. [4]
Full etymology tree
- candid (English), 'Impartial and free from prejudice.'
- borrowed candidus (Latin), 'fair, beautiful'
- derived candeo (Latin), 'to be brilliant, glittering or illuminated; to shine, glitter, glisten; gleam white'
- inherited *kandēō (Proto-Italic)
- inherited *(s)kend- (Proto-Indo-European), 'to shine, appear'
- inherited *kandēō (Proto-Italic)
- suffix -idus (Latin), 'tending to'
- derived candeo (Latin), 'to be brilliant, glittering or illuminated; to shine, glitter, glisten; gleam white'
- borrowed candidus (Latin), 'fair, beautiful'
Ancestors
- *(s)kend- (Proto-Indo-European)
- candidus (Latin)
Descendants and derived words
- candid camera (English)
- candidity (English)
- candidly (English)
- candidness (English)
- supercandid (English)
- uncandid (English)
Sources
- candid (English) - Wiktionary
- candidus (Latin) - Wiktionary
- idus (Latin) - Wiktionary
- candeo (Latin) - Wiktionary
Updated August 2026
Etymology data from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · About Miraris