Credible

How to spell credible

8 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce credible

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does credible mean?

1. adjectiveAble to be believed; convincing and trustworthy.

Credible in a sentence

• The witness gave a credible account of what happened that night.

• Investors backed the plan only after seeing a credible set of figures.

Where does credible come from?

Language of origin: Latin

Credible comes from the Latin credibilis, meaning 'worthy of belief', which was formed from the verb credere, 'to believe' or 'to trust'. That same root sits inside a whole family of English words: 'credit' (something entrusted), 'credentials' (papers that earn belief), and 'incredible' (literally not believable). English took the word up in the late fourteenth century, borrowing it through the bookish, scholarly Latin of the period rather than through everyday French. The spelling trap lives in the suffix: it is -ible, not -able, because the ending was inherited directly from the Latin -ibilis form attached to credere. A useful memory hook is that anything you can put 'credit' in is something credible, since both grow from the same idea of trusting and believing.

How the word is built

• cred (Latin credere: to believe, trust)
• -ible (adjective suffix: able to be)