# belief

> English word · Noun · IPA /bɪˈliːf/ · frequency rank #3,211

## Definitions
1. Mental acceptance of a claim as true.
2. Faith or trust in the reality of something; often based upon one's own reasoning, trust in a claim, desire of actuality, and/or evidence considered.
3. Something believed.
4. The quality or state of believing.
5. Religious faith.
6. One's religious or moral convictions.

## Etymology
Etymology tree
Proto-Indo-European *lewbʰ-der.
Proto-Germanic *laubō
Proto-West Germanic *laubu
Old English lēafa
Middle English bileve
English belief
From Middle English bileve, from Old English lēafa, from Proto-West Germanic *laubu from Proto-Germanic *laubō. Compare German Glaube (“faith, belief”).
The replacement of final /v/ with /f/ is due to the analogy of noun-verb pairs with /f/ in the noun but /v/ in the verb, creating a pair belief : believe on the model of e.g. grief : grieve or proof : prove.

## Easily confused with
- **brief** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/belief-vs-brief)
- **belle** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/belief-vs-belle)
- **Belize** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/belief-vs-belize)
- **belted** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/belief-vs-belted)
- **belive** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/belief-vs-belive)
- **Belles** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/belief-vs-belles)
- **believe** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/belief-vs-believe)
- **bellies** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/belief-vs-bellies)
- **bellied** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/belief-vs-bellied)
- **beef** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/beef-vs-belief)

## Common misspellings (8)
`bbelief`, `beilef`, `beleif`, `belieff`, `belife`, `bellief`, `bleief`, `eblief`

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/belief