Where does “confident” come from?
Confident comes from Middle French confident, derived from Latin confidens, the present participle of confidere, meaning "to trust completely," formed from the prefix con- and a root related to Proto-Indo-European bʰidʰ-.
confident (English): Very sure of something; positive; Self-assured,...
Definitions
- Very sure of something; positive; Self-assured,...
Ancestry of “confident”, step by step
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Middle French | confident | — |
| 2 | Latin | cōnfīdēns | confiding (in) |
| 3 | Latin | cōnfīdō | (+ Dative of the person and e + ablative of the thing or in/de + ablative) to be confident or assured of, confide in, believe, trust, place or put confidence in; rely upon |
| 4 | Latin | cōn- | Used in compounds to indicate a being or bringing together of several objects |
| 5 | Latin | cum | with, along with; at; -fold |
| 6 | Old Latin | com | Alternative form of cum |
| 7 | Proto-Italic | kom | with, along, at |
| 8 | Proto-Indo-European | ḱóm | beside, near, by, with |
| 9 | Proto-Indo-European | ḱe | Deictic particle, here; Post-positional... |
| 10 | Middle English | kyt | — |
| 11 | German | kitt | putty certain kinds of cement used for fixing e.g. window panes |
| 12 | Old High German | kuti | — |
| 13 | Proto-West Germanic | kwidu | gum, resin |
| 14 | Proto-Germanic | kweduz | resin |
| 15 | Proto-Indo-European | gʷet- | resin, gum; to say, speak |
| 16 | Proto-Indo-European | gū- | to bend; curve; arch; vault; to bow, bend, arch,... |