Other forms: credits
Credit is money you may spend now and pay for later, or praise given. On credit, a credit card, take the credit.
The financial sense rests on the older one: credit is given to somebody believed likely to repay, and the Latin means belief. Taking the credit for somebody else's work is the commonest use of the other sense, and giving credit where it is due is the answer.
1nouncreditMoney you may spend now and pay for later.
“We bought the new fridge on credit and are paying for it every month.”
2nounpraisePraise given for something done.
“She did most of the work, but her boss took all the credit.”
Too few real examples of this word to estimate which sense is commonest.
credit is a loan, or a praise.
Latin creditum means a loan, from credere, to believe or trust. Creed and credible are relatives.
Proto-Indo-European
*ḱerd-
Latin
crēditum — a loan, credit
Middle French
crédit — belief, trust
English, today
credit
Built from
Borrowed from Middle French crédit (“belief, trust”), from Latin crēditum (“a loan, credit”), neuter of crēditus, past participle of crēdere (“to believe”). The verb is from the noun. a doublet of shraddha, creed.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA