English
true
True comes from Old English trēowe ‘faithful, true’, and goes back to Proto-Indo-European *drewH-.
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*drewH-1‘firm’reconstructed
- Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*triwwiz1‘faithful’reconstructed
- Old Englishc. 450–1150trēowe1‘faithful’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500treowe1
- Englishearliest quotation 1568true1
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
- 1 Wiktionary, English true
- Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1568, William Cornysh, In the Fleete Made by Me William Cornishe …: “The Harpe. […] A harper with his wreſt maye…”.
Lineage
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*drewH-Wiktionary, English true‘firm’reconstructed
- Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*triwwizWiktionary, English true‘faithful’reconstructed
- Old Englishc. 450–1150trēoweWiktionary, English true‘faithful’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500treoweWiktionary, English true
- Englishearliest quotation 1568trueWiktionary, English true. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1568, William Cornysh, In the Fleete Made by Me William Cornishe …: “The Harpe. […] A harper with his wreſt maye…”
Word family
English words that share an ancestor with true, grouped by the ancestor they share, most familiar first.
through Proto-Germanic *triwwiz ‘faithful, true’
2 more relatives in the full family tree
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Today it means
adj Conforming to the actual state of reality or fact; factually correct.
Sources
Sources: Wiktionary, “true”. 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 *drewH- / true