Etymograph

English

credible

Credible comes from Latin crēdibilis ‘worthy of belief’, and goes back to Proto-Indo-European *ḱred-dʰeh₁-ti.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*ḱred-dʰeh₁-ti1‘to place one's heart, i.e. to trust, believe’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*krezðō1‘to believe’reconstructed
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEcrēdō2‘believe’
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEcrēdibilis2‘worthy of belief’
  5. Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600credible2
  6. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500credible2
  7. Englishearliest quotation 2022credible2

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, Latin credo
  2. 2 Wiktionary, English credible
  3. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 2022, Philip Haigh, Building the case for West Midlands rail improvements: “While WMRE makes clear that electrification is the only…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*ḱred-dʰeh₁-tiWiktionary, Latin credo‘to place one's heart, i.e. to trust, believe’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*krezðōWiktionary, Latin credo‘to believe’reconstructed
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEcrēdōWiktionary, English credible‘believe’
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEcrēdibilisWiktionary, English credible‘worthy of belief’
  5. Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600credibleWiktionary, English credible
  6. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500credibleWiktionary, English credible
  7. Englishearliest quotation 2022credibleWiktionary, English credible. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 2022, Philip Haigh, Building the case for West Midlands rail improvements: “While WMRE makes clear that electrification is the only…”

Linked words

through Latin crēdō ‘believe’

creed, credence, incredulous, credo, incredulity, credulity, credulous, accredit, 10 more

Today it means

adj Believable or plausible.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “credible”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entry for Latin credo. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.

Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *ḱred-dʰeh₁-ti / credible

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