Etymograph

English

creditor

Creditor comes from Latin crēditor ‘creditor, lender’, from crēditum ‘loan’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *ḱred-dʰeh₁-ti ‘to place one's heart, i.e. to trust, believe’.

  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‘lend’
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEcrēditus2‘lent, loaned, having been loaned’perfect passive participle of crēdō
  5. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEcrēditum2‘loan’
  6. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEcrēditor2‘creditor, lender’
  7. Anglo-Normanc. 1066–1400creditour2
  8. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500creditour2
  9. Englishtodaycreditor2

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, Latin credo
  2. 2 Wiktionary, English creditor

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 creditor‘lend’
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEcrēditusWiktionary, English creditor‘lent, loaned, having been loaned’perfect passive participle of crēdō
  5. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEcrēditumWiktionary, English creditor‘loan’
  6. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEcrēditorWiktionary, English creditor‘creditor, lender’
  7. Anglo-Normanc. 1066–1400creditourWiktionary, English creditor
  8. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500creditourWiktionary, English creditor
  9. EnglishtodaycreditorWiktionary, English creditor

Linked words

through Latin crēdō ‘lend’

incredible, creed, credence, incredulous, credo, incredulity, credulous, credulity, 9 more

through Latin crēditum ‘loan’

accredit, 1 more

Today it means

noun A person to whom a debt is owed.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “creditor”; 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 / creditor

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