Credibility

How to spell credibility

11 letters · 5 syllables

How to pronounce credibility

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does credibility mean?

1. nounThe quality of being believable, trusted, or worthy of confidence.

Credibility in a sentence

• The witness lost all credibility after changing his story twice.

• A single broken promise can damage a manager's credibility with the whole team.

Where does credibility come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word traces back to the Latin verb credere, which literally meant 'to believe' or 'to entrust', the same root that gives us 'credit', 'creed', and 'incredible'. From credere the Latin adjective credibilis was formed, meaning 'worthy of belief' or 'believable', and from that came the late Latin noun credibilitas, the quality of being believable. English adopted 'credible' in the late medieval period and built or borrowed 'credibility' by the early 1600s to name the abstract quality of deserving trust. Notice that the spelling keeps the -ibil- of the Latin adjective rather than the -abil- of words like 'reliability', which is the small trap most writers face. Knowing that the family centres on credere, 'to believe', helps anchor the 'cred' opening and the soft, easily slurred middle syllables.

How the word is built

• cred- (from Latin credere: to believe)
• -ibil- (able to be)
• -ity (noun suffix forming a quality)