faith (English)

Where does "faith" come from?

The English word 'faith' traces its ultimate roots back to the Proto-Indo-European root '*bʰeydʰ-', meaning 'to command, to persuade, to trust'[3]. This root evolved into the Latin word 'fidem', which traveled into Old French as 'fei' and 'feid'[1][2][4]. Borrowed into Middle English as 'feith' and 'faith'[1][4], the word eventually displaced the native Old English 'ġelēafa'[1]. While the final sound in the Middle English form is most straightforwardly a direct borrowing of a devoiced Old French allophone, it may have also been influenced by native English abstract nouns ending in the suffix '-th'[1].

Open questions

The appearance of the final -th sound in Middle English may alternatively arise from an alteration under the influence of native English abstract nouns or as a recharacterization of a French form rather than a direct phonetic borrowing. [1]

Full etymology tree

faith (English), 'A trust or confidence in the intentions or abilities of a person, object, or ideal from prior empirical evidence.'
- borrowed fei (Old French), 'alternative form of foi'
  - inherited fidem (Latin), 'accusative singular of fidēs (“faith; belief; trust”)'
    - derived fides (Latin), 'faith; belief (belief without empirical evidence, direct experience, or observation)'
      - derived *bʰeydʰ- (Proto-Indo-European), 'to trust'

Ancestors

*bʰeydʰ- (Proto-Indo-European)
feith (Middle English)
foi (Old French)
fides (Latin)

Cognates and doublets

geleafa (Old English)

Descendants and derived words

act of faith (English)
antifaith (English)
article of faith (English)
Attic faith (English)
bad faith (English)
blind faith (English)
by my faith (English)
cupboard faith (English)
faith-based (English)
faithbreach (English)
faithbreaker (English)
faith can move mountains (English)

Sources

Updated August 2026

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Etymology data from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · About Miraris