confidant

C2+ Topic:People & Society

US /ˈkɑnfɪˌdɑnt/ UK /ˌkɒnfɪˈdænt/ See IPA manual

noun

Meanings

1

noun
a person trusted with private matters or secrets

She became his closest confidant during the divorce.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 noun · a person trusted with... confidanteintimate friend crony familiar companion

Word family

Forms confidante

Related forms confide confidence confidential

Etymology

An 18th-century respelling of confident (in its older noun sense 'one trusted with secrets'), influenced by French confidente. Ultimately from Latin confidere ('to trust fully'), from com- (intensive) + fidere ('to trust').

confidere Latin fidere Latin

View etymology graph ->

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People & Society Word Formation & Derivatives

# confidant

**Type:** Word
**Level:** C2+
**Part of speech:** noun
**IPA (US):** ˈkɑnfɪˌdɑnt
**IPA (UK):** ˌkɒnfɪˈdænt

## Meanings
1. a person trusted with private matters or secrets

## Examples
- She became his closest confidant during the divorce.

## Synonyms
- confidante
- intimate
- friend
- crony
- familiar
- companion

## Related Forms
- confide
- confidence
- confidential

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: confidere
- Root: fidere

## Etymology
An 18th-century respelling of confident (in its older noun sense 'one trusted with secrets'), influenced by French confidente. Ultimately from Latin confidere ('to trust fully'), from com- (intensive) + fidere ('to trust').

## AI Etymology
Confidant is an 18th-century respelling of confident (in its older noun sense 'one trusted with secrets'), influenced by French confidente. Ultimately from Latin confidere ('to trust fully'), from com- (intensive) + fidere ('to trust'). The historical trail runs through confidere in Latin and fidere in Latin. Morphologically, confidant is transparent: an 18th-century respelling of confident (in its older noun sense 'one trusted with secrets'), influenced by French confidente. Used as a noun, confidant now means "a person trusted with private matters or secrets", so the present definition can be read against the older forms and meanings. The same lexical family is also visible in related forms such as confide, confidence, and confidential. The result is a borrowed or transmitted form whose modern spelling carries a compact record of its route into English.

## Topics
- People & Society
- Word Formation & Derivatives

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