Where does “discredit” come from?
Discredit comes from Middle French discrediter, from Latin discreditare, ultimately from the same root as credit, which derives from Latin credo meaning to believe or trust.
discredit (English): To harm the good reputation of a person; to cause...
Definitions
- To harm the good reputation of a person; to cause...
Ancestry of “discredit”, step by step
discredit traces back through two separate lines of ancestry.
via French discrédit
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | French | discrédit | disrepute |
| 2 | French | discréditer | to discredit |
| 3 | French | crédit | credit; course credit |
| 4 | Italian | credito | credit |
| 5 | Latin | crēditum | a loan |
| 6 | Latin | crēdō | to believe, to trust in, to give credence to |
| 7 | Proto-Italic | krezdō | to believe |
| 8 | Proto-Indo-European | ḱréddʰh₁eti | to believe, trust |
| 9 | Proto-Indo-European | -dʰh₁eti | Forms resultative verbs |
| 10 | Proto-Indo-European | dʰeh₁- | to do, put, place |