# believe

> English word · Verb · IPA /bɪˈliːv/ · frequency rank #286

## Definitions
1. To accept as true, particularly without absolute certainty (i.e., as opposed to knowing).
2. To accept that someone is telling the truth.
3. To have religious faith; to believe in a greater truth.
4. To opine, think, reckon.
5. [with in]
6. [with in]
7. [with in]

## Etymology
Etymology tree
Proto-Indo-European *h₁ep-der.
Proto-Indo-European *h₁epsder.
Proto-Indo-European *h₁epider.
Proto-Indo-European *h₁pi
Proto-Germanic *bider.
Proto-Germanic *bi-
Proto-West Germanic *bi-
Proto-Indo-European *lewbʰ-der.
Proto-Germanic *laubō
Proto-Indo-European *-yéti
Proto-Germanic *-janą
Proto-Germanic *laubijaną
Proto-West Germanic *laubijan
Proto-West Germanic *bilaubijan
Old English belīefan
Middle English bileven
English believe
From Middle English beleven, bileven, from Old English belīefan (“to believe”), from Proto-West Germanic *bilaubijan (“to believe”), equivalent to be- + leave (“to give leave or permission to, permit, allow, grant”). Cognate with Scots beleve (“to believe”), Middle Low German belö̂ven (“to believe”), Middle High German belouben (“to believe”).
A related term in Old English was ġelīefan (“to be dear to; believe, trust”), from Proto-West Germanic *galaubijan (“to have faith, believe”), from Proto-Germanic *galaubijaną. Compare also Old English ġelēafa (“belief, faith, confidence, trust”), Old English lēof ("dear, valued, beloved, pleasant, agreeable" > English lief). Related also to North Frisian leauwjen (“to believe”), West Frisian leauwe (“to believe”), Dutch geloven (“to believe”), German glauben (“to believe”), Gothic 𐌲𐌰𐌻𐌰𐌿𐌱𐌾𐌰𐌽 (galaubjan, “to hold dear, valuable, or satisfactory, approve of, believe”).
The prepositionally transitive senses with in are a semantic loan from Latin crēdō in aliquem / aliquid.

## Easily confused with
- **Belize** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/believe-vs-belize)
- **belive** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/believe-vs-belive)
- **believed** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/believe-vs-believed)
- **believes** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/believe-vs-believes)
- **believer** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/believe-vs-believer)
- **Bellevue** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/believe-vs-bellevue)
- **belief** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/belief-vs-believe)

## Common misspellings (9)
`bbelieve`, `beileve`, `beleive`, `belieev`, `believve`, `belivee`, `bellieve`, `bleieve`, `eblieve`

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