Wednesday, November 18, 2009

Origins - Belief and Disbelief

Credulous comes from Latin credo, to believe, the same root found in credit (if people believe in your honesty, they will extend credit to you; they will credit what you say). -Ous is an adjective suffix that usually signifies full of. So, strictly, credulous means full of believingness.
Do not confuse credulous with credible. In the latter word we see combined the root credo, believe, with -ible, a suffix meaning can be. Something credible can be believed.
Let’s note some differences:
Credulous listeners – those who fully believe what they hear.
A credible story – one that can be believed.
An incredulous attitude – an attitude of skepticism, of non-belief.
An incredible story – one that cannot be believed.
Incredible characters – persons who are so unusual that you can scarcely believe they exist.
Nouns are formed as follows:
credulous – credulity.
incredulous – incredulity.
credible – credibility.
incredible – incredibility.
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