Mistrust

How to spell mistrust

8 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce mistrust

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does mistrust mean?

1. verbTo have little confidence in someone or something; to regard with suspicion.
2. nounA feeling of doubt or suspicion about someone or something.

Mistrust in a sentence

• verb

  Many customers mistrust adverts that promise instant results.

• noun

  Years of broken promises bred a deep mistrust between the partners.

• verb

  He learned to mistrust any deal that seemed too generous.

• noun

  Her mistrust of the new manager faded once he kept his word.

Where does mistrust come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

This word is a homegrown English compound formed from the prefix mis-, which carries the sense of 'wrongly', 'badly' or 'a lack of', and the noun trust, meaning confidence or reliance placed in someone. The prefix mis- comes down from Old English and the broader Germanic family, where it signalled error or wrongness, as it still does in words like mistake and misjudge. The word trust itself was borrowed into Middle English from Old Norse traust, meaning 'confidence' or 'protection', a relative of the Germanic root that also gave us 'true' and 'truth'. Putting the two together produced mistrust, recorded from around the late 1300s, to express the idea of withholding confidence or suspecting bad faith. Because both parts are familiar everyday words, the spelling is straightforward once you remember it is simply mis plus trust with no doubled letters and no awkward join.

How the word is built

• mis- (wrong, bad, lack of)
• trust (confidence, reliance)