faithful

faithful

English

Alternative forms

• faithfull (archaic)

Etymology

From Middle English feithful, equivalent to faith +‎ -ful.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈfeɪθ.fəl/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

Adjective

faithful (comparative faithfuler or more faithful, superlative faithfulest or most faithful)

1. Loyal; adhering firmly to person or cause.

   My dog is very faithful: he doesn't like to be petted by anybody else.

2. Having faith.
   • 2009, Paul Lakeland, Church: Living Communion (page 162)

     The application of the old discipline, say the conservatives, would probably produce a smaller but more faithful Church.

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.

   • 1976, "Missouri Breakers"

     She wanted to be free to explore casual affairs, but her man had to be faithful .

6. (mathematics) Injective in specific contexts, e.g. of representations in representation or functors in category theory.

Derived terms

• faithful functor
• faithfully
• faithfulness
• site-faithful

 

Translations

loyal; adhering firmly to person or cause

Albanian: besnik (sq) Arabic: وَفِيّ‎ (wafiyy), مُخْلِص‎ (muḵliṣ) Armenian: հավատարիմ (hy) (havatarim) Azerbaijani: sadiq (az), sədaqətli (az), vəfalı (az) Bashkir: тоғро (toğro) Belarusian: ве́рны (vjérny) Bengali: বিশ্বস্ত (biśẇstô), অনুগত (bn) (ônugôtô) Bulgarian: ве́рен (bg) (véren), пре́дан (bg) (prédan) Burmese: သစ္စာရှိ (my) (saccahri.) Catalan: fidel (ca), lleial (ca) Chinese: Mandarin: 忠實／忠实 (zh) (zhōngshí) Czech: věrný (cs) m Danish: trofast Dutch: getrouw (nl) Esperanto: fidela (eo) Estonian: ustav, truu Finnish: uskollinen (fi) French: fidèle (fr), loyal (fr) Friulian: fidêl Galician: fiel, leal Georgian: ერთგული (ertguli) German: treu (de) Gothic: 𐍄𐍂𐌹𐌲𐌲𐍅𐍃 (triggws) Greek: πιστός (el) (pistós) Ancient: πιστός (pistós) Hebrew: נֶאֱמָן‎ (he) (ne'emán) Hindi: निष्ठावान (niṣṭhāvān), वफ़ादार (vafādār) Hungarian: hű (hu), hűséges (hu) Icelandic: trúr (is), tryggur (is) Ido: fidela (io) Indonesian: setia (id) Italian: fedele (it), ligio (it) m Japanese: 忠実な (ja) (ちゅうじつな, chūjitsu na) Kazakh: адал (kk) (adal) Khmer: ចិត្តត្រង់ (cət trɑng) Korean: 충실하다 (ko) (chungsilhada) Kurdish: Northern Kurdish: wefadar (ku), dilsoz (ku) Kyrgyz: ишенимдүү (ky) (işenimdüü), динге ишенген (ky) (dinge işengen), чынчыл (ky) (çınçıl), ишенчиликтүү (ky) (işençiliktüü), так (ky) (tak) Ladin: fedel Lao: ຊື່ (sư̄), ຊື່ຕົງ (sư̄ tong) Latgalian: teirserdeigs Latin: firmus, fidēlis m or f, fidus Latvian: godprātīgs, uzticīgs Lithuanian: ištikimas Low German: German Low German: tro Macedonian: верен (veren) Malay: setia (ms) Mongolian: Cyrillic: үнэнч (mn) (ünenč) Mongolian: ᠦᠨᠡᠨᠴᠢ (ünenči) Norwegian: Bokmål: trofast (no) Nynorsk: trufast Old English: trīewe, ġetrīewe Pashto: وفادار‎ (wafādãr) Persian: وفادار‎‎ (vafâdâr) Polish: wierny (pl) Portuguese: fiel (pt), leal (pt) Romagnol: fidél Romanian: fidel (ro), loial (ro) Russian: ве́рный (ru) (vérnyj), пре́данный (ru) (prédannyj) Sanskrit: निष्ठावान् (niṣṭhāvān), भक्त (sa) (bhakta) Sardinian: fidele, fideli, fieli Scottish Gaelic: dìleas Serbo-Croatian: Cyrillic: веран, вјеран Roman: veran (sh), vjeran (sh) Sicilian: fideli Slovak: verný (sk) Slovene: zvest (sl) Spanish: fiel (es), leal (es) Swedish: trogen (sv) Tajik: вафодор (vafodor) Telugu: నమ్మకమైన (te) (nammakamaina) Thai: ซื่อสัตย์ (th) (sʉ̂ʉ-sàt), จงรัก (th) (jong-rák), ซื่อตรง (th) (sʉ̂ʉ-dtrong), ซื่อ (th) (sʉ̂ʉ) Turkish: sadakatli (tr), sadık (tr), vefakar, vefakâr (tr), vefalı (tr) Turkmen: wepaly Ukrainian: ві́рний (vírnyj), ві́дданий (víddanyj) Urdu: وفادار‎‎ (vafādār) Uyghur: سادىق‎‎ (sadiq‎), ۋاپادار‎ (wapadar) Uzbek: sodiq (uz), vafodor (uz) Vietnamese: chung thủy (vi) Welsh: fyddlon Yiddish: טרײַ‎ (tray), געטרײַ‎ (getray)

having faith

Bulgarian: вярващ (bg) (vjarvašt) Catalan: fidel (ca) Dutch: trouw (nl) Finnish: uskollinen (fi) French: fidèle (fr) Galician: fiel, crente Georgian: please add this translation if you can German: treu (de) Greek: Ancient: πιστός (pistós) Italian: fedele (it) Latin: fidelis, fidus Norwegian: troende Polish: wierny (pl) m Portuguese: fiel (pt), crente (pt) Romagnol: fidél, fedél Russian: ве́рующий (ru) (vérujuščij) Spanish: fiel (es) Turkish: inançlı (tr) Ukrainian: ві́руючий (vírujučyj)

reliable; worthy of trust

Arabic: أَمِين‎ (ar) (ʾamīn) Catalan: fidel (ca) Danish: pålidelig Dutch: trouw (nl) Finnish: luotettava (fi) French: fidèle (fr) Galician: leal, fiel German: treu (de) Greek: Ancient: πιστός (pistós) Italian: affidabile (it) Latin: fidēlis, fidus Norwegian: troverdig (no) Bokmål: etterrettelig, trofast (no) Nynorsk: trufast Plautdietsch: tru Portuguese: fiel (pt), leal (pt), confiável (pt) Russian: надёжный (ru) (nadjóžnyj), заслу́живающий дове́рия (zaslúživajuščij dovérija) Swahili: -aminifu Turkish: güvenilir (tr)

consistent with reality

Bulgarian: правдив (bg) (pravdiv), достоверен (bg) (dostoveren) Catalan: fidel (ca) Czech: věrný (cs) m Danish: nøjagtig, tro (da) Finnish: uskollinen (fi) Norwegian: tro (no) Portuguese: fiel (pt), verossímil (pt) Russian: ве́рный (ru) (vérnyj), то́чный (ru) (tóčnyj) Turkish: sadık (tr), gerçekçi (tr)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

Georgian: (please verify) ერთგული (ertguli)

See also

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

Noun

faithful (plural faithfuls)

1. (in the plural) The practicing members of a religion or followers of a cause.

   The faithful pray five times a day.

   • 1984, Dune‎ (Science Fiction), OCLC 1295459964, spoken by Paul Atreides, 2:11:25 from the start:

     We Fremen have a saying: God created Arrakis to train the faithful. One cannot go against the word of God.

2. Someone or something that is faithful or reliable.
   • 2009 September 30, Bruce DeMara, “Shaw's comedy gets teeth”, in Toronto Star‎:

     Earlier this year, as the recession put a damper on ticket sales, Maxwell said the easy route would have been to go for the tried-and-true old faithfuls.