Added 8 October 2026
trust
/tɹʌst/ noun
In Latin: fides, fīdūcia Wiktionary
noun Definition from WordNet 3.1, Princeton University. Pronunciation from Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org. More about trust at Wordnik → Where our words come from →
-
Something (as property) held by one party (the trustee) for the benefit of another (the beneficiary).
he is the beneficiary of a generous trust set up by his father
-
Certainty based on past experience.
he wrote the paper with considerable reliance on the work of other scientists
-
The trait of believing in the honesty and reliability of others.
the experience destroyed his trust and personal dignity
verb
-
Have confidence or faith in.
We can trust in our government
- Allow without fear.
-
Be confident about something.
I believe that he will come back from the war
Origin
From Middle English trust, trost (“trust, protection”). Long considered a borrowing from Old Norse traust (“confidence, help, protection”), from Proto-Germanic *traustą, but the root vocalism is incompatible, so trust has come to be considered a reflex of an unattested Old English *trust, from a rare zero-grade Proto-Germanic variant of the same root also attested in Middle High German getrüste (“host”). Ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *deru- (“be firm, hard, solid”).
From Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org (CC BY-SA)