trust
/tɹɐst/
Word Rarity
Common
Frequency: Zipf frequency 5.13 in modern English
5
Scrabble Score
5
Letters
1
Syllables
4
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
Confidence in the future payment for goods or services supplied; credit.
Countable; Uncountable
noun
That which is committed or entrusted; something received in confidence; a charge.
Countable; Uncountable
noun
The condition or obligation of one to whom anything is confided; responsible charge or office.
Countable; Uncountable
Example Sentences
Etymology
From Middle English trust, trost (“trust, protection”). Long considered a borrowing from Old Norse traust (“confidence, help, protection”), from Proto-Germanic *traustą, but the root vocalism is incompatible, so trust has come to be considered a reflex of an unattested Old English *trust, from a rare zero-grade Proto-Germanic variant of the same root also attested in Middle High German getrüste (“host”). Ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *deru- (“be firm, hard, solid”). Cognates Cognate with Saterland Frisian Traast (“comfort, solace”), West Frisian treast (“comfort, consolation, solace”), Dutch troost (“comfort, consolation”), German Trost (“comfort, consolation”), Low German Troost (“comfort, consolation”), Luxembourgish Trouscht (“consolation”), Danish trøst (“comfort, solace”), Icelandic traust (“faith, trust; confidence”), Norwegian Nynorsk trøst, trøyst (“consolation”), Swedish tröst (“comfort, consolation”), Gothic 𐍄𐍂𐌰𐌿𐍃𐍄𐌹 (trausti, “covenant, pact”). Doublet of tryst. More at true, tree.
Origin
Word Breakdown
- Root: trust, *trust, *deru-
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /tɹɐst/
Usage
Inflected Forms
trusts (plural)
trusts (present, singular)
trusting (participle, present)
trusted (participle, past)
trusted (past)
no-table-tags (table tags)
glossary (inflection template)
trusted (first person, past)
trustest (archaic, present)
trusted (past, second person)
trustedst (archaic, past)
trusteth (archaic, present)