Etymology Explorer › English

Where does “truthful” come from?

Truthful derives from English truth combined with the suffix -ful, itself from Old English -ful, ultimately tracing through Proto-Germanic triwwiþō and Proto-Indo-European drū-.

truthful (English): Honest, and always telling the truth; Accurately...

Definitions

  1. Honest, and always telling the truth; Accurately...

Ancestry of “truthful”, step by step

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1EnglishtruthTrue facts, genuine depiction or statements of...
2Middle Englishtroute—
3Old Englishtruhttrout
4Old Frenchtruite—
5Latintructaa kind of trout
6Ancient Greekτρώκτηςgnawer, nibbler; greedy knave; kind of fish with...
7Ancient Greek-τήςAppended to verbs to form agent nouns
8Ancient Greekπεῖραtrial, experiment, attempt
9Proto-Indo-Europeanper-before, in front; first; to go through
10Proto-Indo-Europeanpr̥tóspassed , crossed

Words derived from “truthful”

  • truthfulness
  • truthfully
  • untruthful
  • untruthfulness
  • untruthfully
  • nontruthful
Every word from Proto-Indo-European pr̥tós →