Skip to content

"to believe" in seven languages

Meaningto believe

Spanish

creer

/kɾeˈeɾ/

inherited

French

croire

/kʁwaʁ/

inherited

Italian

credere

/ˈkredere/

inherited

Portuguese

acreditar

/akɾedʒiˈtah/

other source · from crédito 'trust' (Latin CRĒDITUM, from CRĒDERE)

The inherited crer survives in formal speech and set phrases.

Romanian

crede

/ˈkrede/

inherited

Catalan

creure

/ˈkɾɛwɾə/

inherited

English

believe

/bɪˈliv/

native English · Old English belȳfan

English → Italianto believecredereNot relatedDifferent sources — learn this one fresh. But English has relatives: credible, credit, creed, credo, incredible.What English and Italian share

The Latin ancestor

CRĒDERE‘to trust, believe’

All six sisters descend from it, unless marked otherwise below.

The story

Italian keeps CRĒDERE whole; Spanish lost the d (creer), and French turned the long Ē into oi, as in TĒLAM → toile.

English relatives: credible, credit, creed, credo, incredible

Learn it

Practice the Core verbs deckQuiz a friend on it

In a sentence

  • esNo te creo.
  • frJe ne te crois pas.
  • itNon ti credo.
  • ptNão acredito em você.
  • roNu te cred.
  • caNo et crec.
  • enI don't believe you.

More words from the same Latin

More in Core verbs

All Core verbs words