Etymograph

English

truth

Truth comes from Middle English treuthe, from Old English trēowþ ‘truth, good faith’, from Proto-Germanic *triwwiþō.

  1. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*triwwiþō1‘truth, promise’reconstructed
  2. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*triuwiþu1reconstructed
  3. Old Englishc. 450–1150trēowþ1‘truth, good faith’
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500treuthe1‘loyalty, truth’
  5. Englishearliest quotation 1707truth1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English truth
  2. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1707, John Mortimer, The Whole Art of Husbandry; or: “Ploughs, […] to make them go true, […] depends…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*triwwiþōWiktionary, English truth‘truth, promise’reconstructed
  2. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*triuwiþuWiktionary, English truthreconstructed
  3. Old Englishc. 450–1150trēowþWiktionary, English truth‘truth, good faith’
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500treutheWiktionary, English truth‘loyalty, truth’
  5. Englishearliest quotation 1707truthWiktionary, English truth. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1707, John Mortimer, The Whole Art of Husbandry; or: “Ploughs, […] to make them go true, […] depends…”

Word family

English words that share an ancestor with truth, grouped by the ancestor they share, most familiar first.

through Proto-Indo-European *drewH-

  • untrue ← untrewe ← untrīewe ← *untriuwī ← *untriwwiz

through Proto-Germanic *triwwiz ‘true, faithful’

  • true ← treowe ← trēowe
  • truly ← truely ← trēowlīċe ← trīewe ← *triuwī
  • truce ← trewes ← true ← trēowa ← trȳw
  • trig ← tryggr

through Old English trēowþ ‘truth, good faith, honour’

4 more relatives in the full family tree

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Today it means

noun True facts, genuine depiction or statements of reality.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “truth”. 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-Germanic *triwwiþō / truth