belief
/bɪˈliːf/
Word Rarity
Uncommon
Frequency: 4.46 in modern English
11
Scrabble Score
6
Letters
2
Syllables
5
Unique Chars
Meaning
Example Sentences
- "It's my belief that the thief is somebody known to us."
- "The belief that there is no conflict between [livestock] farming and arable production also seems to be unfounded: by preventing the growth of trees and other deep vegetation in the hills and by compacting the soil, grazing animals cause a cycle of flash floods and drought, sporadically drowning good land downstream and reducing the supply of irrigation water."
- "My belief is that there is a bear in the woods. Bill said he saw one."
- "Based on this data, it is our belief that X does not occur."
- "The ancient people have a belief in many deities."
- "My belief that it will rain tomorrow is strong."
Etymology
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *lewbʰ-der. Proto-Germanic *laubō Proto-West Germanic *laubu Old English lēafa Middle English bileve English belief From Middle English bileve, from Old English lēafa, from Proto-West Germanic *laubu from Proto-Germanic *laubō. Compare German Glaube (“faith, belief”). The replacement of final /v/ with /f/ is due to the analogy of noun-verb pairs with /f/ in the noun but /v/ in the verb, creating a pair belief : believe on the model of e.g. grief : grieve or proof : prove.
Origin
Word Breakdown
- Root: bileve, lēafa, *laubu, *laubō