faith

/ˈfāth/

Middle English feith, fei, borrowed from Anglo-French feit, feid, fei, going back to Latin fidēs "trust, guarantee, proof, sincerity, loyalty, belief," going back to *bhid-ēi-, noun derivative from zero-grade of an Indo-European verbal base *b{sup}h{/sup}ei̯d{sup}h{/sup}- "entrust, trust," whence Latin fīdere "to trust (in), have confidence (in)," fīdus "faithful," Greek peíthesthai "to obey, comply with, believe," peíthein "to persuade, prevail upon," Albanian be "oath," and probably Old Church Slavic běždǫ, běditi "to compel, constrain," běda "distress, need"

noun

  1. allegiance to duty or a person : loyalty

  2. fidelity to one's promises

  3. sincerity of intentions

lost faith in the company's president

belief faith credence credit mean assent to the truth of something offered for acceptance. belief may or may not imply certitude in the believer. faith almost always implies certitude even where there is no evidence or proof.

verb

  1. believe, trust

noun

  1. a method of treating diseases by prayer and exercise of faith in God