faithful

English

Etymology

faith +‎ -ful

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˈfeɪθ.fəl/, X-SAMPA: /"feIT.f@l/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

Adjective

faithful (comparative more faithful, superlative most faithful)

1. loyal; adhering firmly to person or cause

   My dog is a very faithful dog.

2. having faith

   Some people are faithful to their god.

3. reliable; worthy of trust

   My servant is very faithful.

4. consistent with reality

   I would consider that a very faithful reproduction.

5. engaging in sexual relations only with one's spouse or long-term sexual partner

   They had been faithful to each other all of their married life.

Derived terms

• faithfully
• faithfulness

Translations

loyal; adhering firmly to person or cause

• Belarusian: верны (be) (vjérny)
• Bulgarian: верен (bg) (véren), предан (bg) (prédan)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 忠實 (cmn), 忠实 (cmn) (zhōngshí)

• Czech: věrný (cs) m
• Dutch: getrouw (nl)
• Esperanto: fidela (eo)
• French: fidèle (fr), loyal (fr)
• German: treu (de)
• Hebrew: נאמן (he) (neeman) f
• Ido: fidela (io)
• Italian: fedele (it)
• Japanese: 忠実な (ja) (ちゅうじつな, chūjitsuna)
• Kyrgyz: ишенимдүү (ky) (işenimdüü), динге ишенген (ky) (dinge işengen), чынчыл (ky) (çınçıl) ,ишенчиликтүү (ky) (işençiliktüü), так (ky) (tak)
• Latgalian: teirserdeigs
• Latin: firmus (la), fidēlis (la) m and f

• Latvian: godprātīgs (lv)
• Macedonian: верен (mk) (véren)
• Norwegian: trofast (no)
• Polish: wierny (pl)
• Portuguese: fiel (pt)
• Russian: верный (ru) (vérnyj), преданный (ru) (prédannyj)
• Scottish Gaelic: dìleas (gd)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: веран (sh), вјеран (sh)

  Roman: veran (sh), vjeran (sh)

• Slovak: verný (sk)
• Slovene: zvest (sl)
• Spanish: fiel (es), leal (es)
• Telugu: నమ్మకమైన (te) (nammakamaina)
• Ukrainian: вірний (uk) (vírnyj), відданий (uk) (víddanyj)

having faith

• Bulgarian: вярващ (bg) (vjarvašt)
• Greek:

  Ancient: πιστός

• Italian: fedele (it)
• Latin: fidelis (la)

• Norwegian: troende (no)
• Russian: верующий (ru) (vérujuščij)
• Ukrainian: віруючий (uk) (vírujučyj)

reliable; worthy of trust

• Italian: affidabile (it)
• Latin: fidēlis (la)
• Norwegian: etterrettelig (no)

• Russian: надёжный (ru) (hadjóžhyj), заслуживающий доверия (ru) (zaslúživajuščij dovérija)

consistent with reality

• Bulgarian: правдив (bg) (pravdiv), достоверен (bg) (dostoveren)
• Czech: věrný (cs) m

• Norwegian: tro (no)
• Russian: верный (ru) (vérnyj), точный (ru) (tóčnyj)

See also

• go to the wall for someone
• stand by
• true

Noun

faithful (uncountable)

1. The practicing members of a religion or followers of a cause.

   The faithful pray five times a day.