credo

Inherited from Middle English credo, from Old French credo, from Latin crēdō (“I believe”); doublet of creed.

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈkɹidəʊ/, /ˈkɹeɪdəʊ/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Audio (Southern England):

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• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈkɹidoʊ/, /ˈkɹeɪdoʊ/
• Hyphenation: cre‧do
• Rhymes: -iːdəʊ

credo (plural credos or credoes)

1. A statement of a belief or a summary statement of a whole belief system; also (metonymically) the belief or belief system itself.
   • 2019 May 19, Alex McLevy, “The final Game Of Thrones brings a pensive but simple meditation about stories (newbies)”, in The A.V. Club‎^[1], archived from the original on 22 May 2019:

     “You’re either with me or you’re against me” became Dany’s credo, and those against her were an ever-changing multitude to be determined solely by her whims.

2. (Christianity) The liturgical creed (usually the Nicene Creed), or a musical arrangement of it for use in church services.

   Credo III is so beautiful!

   • 1996, Pastoral Music, volume 21, page 12:

     Until the mid-1970s, however, most Catholic hymnals contained at least one musical setting of the creed […] By the 1980s hymnals having sung credos were mainly those devoted to "traditional" styles of church music […]

• “credo”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin E[li] Smith, editors (1911), “credo”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC.

• OCRed, Coder, cored, coder, Dorce, decor, décor

From Middle Dutch crede, credo, borrowed from Latin crēdō.

• IPA^(key): /ˈkreː.doː/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Hyphenation: cre‧do
• Rhymes: -eːdoː

credo n (plural credo's, diminutive credootje n)

1. (religion, chiefly Christianity) confession of faith, creed

   Synonyms: belijdenis, geloofsbelijdenis

2. (by extension) (strong) conviction

   Synonym: overtuiging

• credobord
• credo-tekst

• → Indonesian: kredo

• IPA^(key): /ˈkre.do/
• Rhymes: -edo
• Hyphenation: cré‧do

From Latin credō.

credo m (plural credi)

1. creed

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

credo

1. first-person singular present indicative of credere

   Credo. ― I believe.

• cedro, cedrò, corde, crode

From Proto-Indo-European *ḱred-dʰeh₁-ti (“to place one's heart, i.e. to trust, believe”), compound phrase of oblique case form of *ḱḗr (“heart”) (whence also Latin cor) and *dʰeh₁- (“to put, place, set”) (whence -dō (“put”)).^[1]

Cognates include Sanskrit श्रद्-√धा (śrad-√dhā, “to trust, believe”) and Old Irish creitid (“believes”, verb).

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): [ˈkreː.doː]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [ˈkrɛː.d̪o]

crēdō (present infinitive crēdere, perfect active crēdidī, supine crēditum); third conjugation

1. (with accusative or dative) to believe, to trust in, to give credence to
   • c. 200 BCE – 190 BCE, Plautus, Captivi 3.4:

     Tune huic credis?

     Do you believe him?

   • c. 200 BCE – 190 BCE, Plautus, Captivi 3.4:

     Aristophontes: Quid tu autem? Etiam huic credis?
     Hegio: Quid ego credam huic?
     Aristophontes: Insanum esse me?

     Aristophontes: How’s this? You, too? Do you actually believe him?
     Hegio: Believe him in what?
     Aristophontes: That I’m insane?

2. to confide in, have confidence in

   Synonyms: cōnfīdō, fīdō

   Antonyms: suspicor, diffīdō, suspiciō

3. to think, imagine, suppose, assume

   Synonyms: cēnseō, iūdicō, putō, cōgitō, sentiō, exīstimō, arbitror, opīnor, reor

   • 29 BCE – 19 BCE, Virgil, Aeneid 4.500–502:

     Nōn tamen Anna novīs praetexere fūnera sacrīs / germānam crēdit, nec tantōs mente furōrēs / concipit [...].

     Yet Anna cannot imagine [that] her sister [Dido], by [these] unusual rituals, conceals her [own] funeral preparations, nor does such insanity come to mind [...].

   • 8 CE, Ovid, Fasti 1.518:

     quis tantum fātī crēdat habēre locum?

     Who could imagine the place to have so great a destiny?

4. to commit or consign something to one for preservation, protection, etc., to entrust to one
5. to lend, to loan

• Crēdō often governs the dative with persons believed in, but the accusative with things or concepts believed in. The accusative may be accompanied by a preposition: Crēdō in ūnum Deum = "I believe in one God".

Borrowings based on the phrase crēdō in Deum (“I believe in God”) in the Nicene Creed:

• “credo”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “credo”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• credo in Enrico Olivetti, editor (2003-2025), Dizionario Latino, Olivetti Media Communication
• credo in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• Carl Meißner, Henry William Auden (1894) Latin Phrase-Book‎^[2], London: Macmillan and Co.
  • I am gradually convinced that..: addūcor, ut credam
    
  • I cannot make myself believe that..: non possum adduci, ut (credam)
    
  • we believe in the existence of a God: deum esse credimus
    
  • to lend some one money (without interest): pecuniam alicui credere (sine fenore, usuris)
    
  • believe me: mihi crede (not crede mihi)
    
• De Vaan, Michiel (2008) Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 7), Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN

Borrowed from Old French credo, from Latin crēdō (“I believe”) in the Nicene Creed or Apostle's Creed. Doublet of crede.

• IPA^(key): /ˈkrɛːdɔː/

credo (uncountable)

1. The Nicene Creed or Apostle's Creed.

• English: credo

• “crēdō, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.

crēda m

1. crēda

Borrowed from Latin crēdō (“I believe”) in the Nicene Creed or Apostle's Creed.

credo oblique singular, m (nominative singular credo)

1. The Nicene Creed or Apostle's Creed.

• Middle French: credo
  • French: credo
• → Middle English: credo
  • English: credo

• Walther von Wartburg (1928–2002) “crēdĕre”, in Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, volume 2: C Q K, page 1306

• kredo

Unadapted borrowing from Latin crēdō.

• IPA^(key): /ˈkrɛ.dɔ/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛdɔ
• Syllabification: cre‧do
• Homophone: kredo

credo n (indeclinable)

1. (Christianity) credo (liturgical creed (usually the Nicene Creed), or a musical arrangement of it for use in church services)
2. credo (belief system)

• credo in Wielki słownik języka polskiego, Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
• credo in Polish dictionaries at PWN

Learned borrowing from Latin credō (“to believe”). Doublet of creio.

• Hyphenation: cre‧do

credo m (plural credos)

1. (religion) creed; credo (a religious belief system)

   Synonyms: crença, religião

   Antonym: descrença

   O credo cristão.

   The Christian creed.

credo!

1. ew! (expression of disgust or nausea)

   Synonym: (Brazil) eca

2. Jesus! (expression of unpleasant surprise)

   Synonyms: Jesus, (Brazil) nossa

Borrowed from Latin credo.

credo n (uncountable)

1. credo (belief system)

Borrowed from Latin credō (“to believe”). Doublet of creo.

• IPA^(key): /ˈkɾedo/ [ˈkɾe.ð̞o]
• Rhymes: -edo
• Syllabification: cre‧do

credo m (plural credos)

1. (religion) creed

• “credo”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 10 December 2024

• cedro, cerdo

• (North Wales) IPA^(key): /ˈkrɛdɔ/
• (South Wales) IPA^(key): /ˈkreːdɔ/, /ˈkrɛdɔ/

credo

1. (literary) third-person singular present subjunctive of credu