English
credit
Credit comes from Middle French crédit ‘belief, trust’, from Latin crēditum ‘a loan’, from crēdō ‘to believe’.
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*ḱred-dʰeh₁-ti1‘to place one's heart’reconstructed
- Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*krezðō1‘to believe’reconstructed
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEcrēdō2as crēdere, past participle‘to believe’
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEcrēditum2‘a loan’
- Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600crédit2‘belief’
- Englishearliest quotation c. 1604–1605credit2
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
- 1 Wiktionary, Latin credo
- 2 Wiktionary, English credit
- Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: c. 1604–1605, William Shakespeare, All’s Well, that Ends Well: “How shall they credit A poor unlearned virgin?”.
Lineage
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*ḱred-dʰeh₁-tiWiktionary, Latin credo‘to place one's heart’reconstructed
- Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*krezðōWiktionary, Latin credo‘to believe’reconstructed
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEcrēdōWiktionary, English creditas crēdere, past participle‘to believe’
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEcrēditumWiktionary, English credit‘a loan’
- Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600créditWiktionary, English credit‘belief’
- Englishearliest quotation c. 1604–1605creditWiktionary, English credit. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: c. 1604–1605, William Shakespeare, All’s Well, that Ends Well: “How shall they credit A poor unlearned virgin?”
The story
The verb is from the noun.
Linked words
through Latin crēdō ‘to believe’
incredible, creed, credence, incredulous, credo, incredulity, credulous, credulity, 10 more
Today it means
verb To believe; to put credence in.
Sources
Sources: Wiktionary, “credit”; 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 / credit