faith

== English == === Alternative forms === feith, feithe, fayth, faythe, faithe (all obsolete) === Etymology === From Middle English faith (also fay), borrowed from Old French fei, feid, from Latin fidem. Displaced native Old English ġelēafa, which was also a word for belief. Old French had [θ] as a final devoiced allophone of /ð/ from lenited Latin /d/; this eventually fell silent in the 12th century. The -th of the Middle English forms is most straightforwardly accounted for as a direct borrowing of a French [θ]. However, it has also been seen as arising from alteration of a French form with -d under influence of English abstract nouns in the suffix -th (e.g., truth, ruth, health, etc.), or as a recharacterization of a French form like fay, fey, fei with the same suffix. Compare Champenois fiate, fiaite, showing the same preservation of the final consonant. === Pronunciation === IPA(key): /feɪθ/ Rhymes: -eɪθ === Noun === faith (countable and uncountable, plural faiths) A trust or confidence in the intentions or abilities of a person, object, or ideal from prior empirical evidence. A conviction about abstractions, ideas, or beliefs, without empirical evidence, experience, or observation. (metonymic) A religious or spiritual belief system. An obligation of loyalty or fidelity and the observance of such an obligation. (obsolete) Credibility or truth. 1784-1810, William Mitford, History of Greece the faith of the foregoing […] narrative ==== Quotations ==== For quotations using this term, see Citations:faith. ==== Synonyms ==== (knowing, without direct observation, based on indirect evidence and experience, that something is true, real, or will happen): belief, confidence, trust, conviction (system of religious belief): religion ==== Derived terms ==== ==== Related terms ==== ==== Translations ==== === Adverb === faith (not comparable) (archaic) Alternative form of in faith (“really, truly”). === Interjection === faith (obsolete) Ellipsis of by my faith. === References === “faith”, in OneLook Dictionary Search. faith in Keywords for Today: A 21st Century Vocabulary, edited by The Keywords Project, Colin MacCabe, Holly Yanacek, 2018. William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin E[li] Smith, editors (1911), “faith”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC. “faith”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC. === Anagrams === hatif == Old Irish == === Noun === faith m alternative spelling of fáith == Welsh == === Pronunciation === IPA(key): /vai̯θ/ === Adjective === faith soft mutation of maith === Mutation ===