Other forms: believed, believes, believing
To believe something is to accept that it is true. You believe the forecast, you believe your friend when she says the shop shuts at four, you believe a story because the person telling it has never lied to you.
Believe IN is a different thing: it means holding that something exists, or that it is good and worth backing. I believe in ghosts, she believes in second chances, he believed in her long before anyone else did. With a that-clause it softens into think — I believe he is away this week. The noun is belief, the adjective believable, and unbelievable has drifted until it means amazing as much as untrue. Two traps: the spelling puts i before e, and believe me at the start of a sentence is a promise about honesty rather than an offer of evidence.
1verbbelieveTo accept that something is true.~50%
“Nobody would believe her account of what happened.”
2verbthinkTo think that something is the case, without being certain.~36%
“I believe the train leaves at ten past.”
3verbsureTo be sure that something exists, or to trust in its value.~14%
“She believes in hard work more than in luck.”
Shares are an estimate: a language model read 14 sentences found in the wild and placed 14 of them on a sense — a count of our sample, not a measurement of English.
Believe comes from Old English beliefan, from Proto-West Germanic *bilaubijan, built from be- plus the element that also gives leave. The same root with a different prefix, *galaubijan, produced Old English gelief an, 'to trust, to hold dear'. Nearby sits Old English leof, 'dear, beloved' — believing something and holding it dear were once close neighbours.
Middle English
bileven
English, today
believe
From Middle English bileven. From Middle English beleven, bileven, from Old English belīefan (“to believe”), from Proto-West Germanic bilaubijan (“to believe”), equivalent to be- + leave. Cognate with Scots beleve (“to believe”), Old Frisian bilēva (“to permit”), Middle Dutch beloven (“to believe, entrust”), Middle Low German belö̂ven (“to believe”), Middle High German belouben (“to believe”). A related term in Old English was ġelīefan (“to be dear to; believe, trust”), from Proto-West Germanic galaubijan (“to have faith, believe”), from Proto-Germanic galaubijaną. Compare also Old English ġelēafa (“belief, faith, confidence, trust”), Old English lēof "dear, valued, beloved, pleasant, agreeable" > English lief. Related also to frr leauwjen (“to believe”), stq leeuwe (“to believe”), West Frisian leauwe (“to believe”), Dutch geloven (“to believe”), German Low German glöven (“to believe”), German glauben (“to believe”), Gothic 𐌲𐌰𐌻𐌰𐌿𐌱𐌾𐌰𐌽 (“to hold dear, valuable, or satisfactory, approve of, believe”).
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA