# truth
## English

Wikiquote

### Alternative forms

* trewth (obsolete)

### Etymology

From Middle English trouthe, truthe, trewthe, treowthe, from Old English trēowþ, trīewþ (“truth, veracity, faith, fidelity, loyalty, honour, pledge, covenant”), from Proto-Germanic *triwwiþō (“promise, covenant, contract”), from Proto-Indo-European *drū- (“tree”), from Proto-Indo-European *deru- (“firm, solid”), equivalent to true +‎ -th. Cognate with Norwegian trygd (“trustworthiness, security, insurance”), Icelandic tryggð (“loyalty, fidelity”).

### Pronunciation

* enPR: trōōth, IPA: /tɹuːθ/
** Audio (UK):(file)
** Audio (US):(file)
* Rhymes: -uːθ

### Noun

truth (usually uncountable, plural truths)
* True facts, genuine depiction or statements of reality.
    The truth is that our leaders knew a lot more than they were letting on.
** 1831 December 27, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, “Beauty—Genius”, in H[enry] N[elson] C[oleridge], editor, Specimens of the Table Talk of the Late Samuel Taylor Coleridge. […], volume II, London: John Murray, […], published 1835, →OCLC, page 19:The truth depends on, and is only arrived at, by a legitimate deduction from all the facts which are truly material.
** 2014 June 21, “Magician’s brain”, in The Economist‎, volume 411, number 8892, archived from the original on 4 November 2018:The truth is that [Isaac] Newton was very much a product of his time. The colossus of science was not the first king of reason, Keynes wrote after reading Newton’s unpublished manuscripts. Instead “he was the last of the magicians”.
* Conformity to fact or reality; correctness, accuracy.
    There was some truth in his statement that he had no other choice.
** 2012 January, Robert M. Pringle, “How to Be Manipulative”, in American Scientist, volume 100, number 1, page 31:As in much of biology, the most satisfying truths in ecology derive from manipulative experimentation. Tinker with nature and quantify how it responds.
* The state or quality of being true to someone or something.
    Truth to one's own feelings is all-important in life.
* (archaic) Faithfulness, fidelity.
** 1800, S[amuel] T[aylor] Coleridge, “Christabel. Part II.”, in Christabel: Kubla Khan, a Vision: The Pains of Sleep, London: […] John Murray, […], by William Bulmer and Co. […], published 1816, →OCLC, page 32:Alas! they had been friends in youth; / But whispering tongues can poison truth; […]
* (obsolete) A pledge of loyalty or faith.
* Conformity to rule; exactness; close correspondence with an example, mood, model, etc.
** 1707, J[ohn] Mortimer, The Whole Art of Husbandry; or, The Way of Managing and Improving of Land. […], London: […] J[ohn] H[umphreys] for H[enry] Mortlock […], and J[onathan] Robinson […], →OCLC:Ploughs, […] to make them go true, […] depends much upon the truth of the ironwork.
** 1840, Joseph Whitworth, A Paper on Plane Metallic Surfaces or True Planes:The process of grinding is, in fact, regarded as indispensable wherever truth is required, yet that of scraping is calculated to produce a higher degree of truth than has ever been attained by grinding.
* That which is real, in a deeper sense; spiritual or ‘genuine’ reality.
    The truth is what is.
    Alcoholism and redemption led me finally to truth.
** 1819 May, John Keats, “Ode on a Grecian Urn”, in Lamia, Isabella, the Eve of St. Agnes, and Other Poems, London: […] [Thomas Davison] for Taylor and Hessey, […], published 1820, →OCLC, stanza 5, page 116:"Beauty is truth, truth beauty,"—that is all / Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know.
* (countable) Something acknowledged to be true; a true statement or axiom.
    Hunger and jealousy are just eternal truths of human existence.
** 1813 January 27, [Jane Austen], Pride and Prejudice: […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), London: […] [George Sidney] for T[homas] Egerton, […], →OCLC:It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife.
* (physics, dated) Topness; the property of a truth quark.
* (games) In the game truth or dare, the choice to truthfully answer a question put forth.
    When asked truth or dare, he picked truth.

#### Synonyms

* See Thesaurus:truth

#### Antonyms

* falsehood, falsity, lie, nonsense, drivel, untruth, half-truth

#### Derived terms

* ain't that the truth
* a lie can run around the world before the truth can get its boots on
* antitruth
* bend the truth
* biotruth
* countertruth
* economical with the truth
* first truth
* God honest truth
* God's honest truth
* God's truth
* gospel truth
* Gospel truth
* grain of truth
* ground truth
* half-truth
* hard truth
* home truth
* if truth be told
* in truth
* in wine, there is truth
* it's the truth, Ruth
* kernel of truth
* live one's truth
* mistruth
* moment of truth
* National Day for Truth and Reconciliation
* nontruth
* nugget of truth
* of a truth
* post-truth
* race of truth
* ring of truth
* semitruth
* sneeze on the truth
* speak truth to power
* stretch the truth
* supertruth
* talk truth to power
* tell the truth
* tell-truth
* tell you the truth
* there's a grain of truth in every joke
* the truth is in the wine
* to tell the truth
* to tell you the truth
* trickle truth
* troof
* truthaphobia
* truthbearer
* truth be told
* truth bomb
* truth book
* truth drug
* truthen
* truther
* trutherism
* truthful
* truth function
* truthify
* truthiness
* truthism
* truth is stranger than fiction
* truthless
* truthlike
* truthly
* truthmaker
* truthmaking
* truthness
* truth nuke
* truthology
* truth or dare
* truth quark
* truth quotient
* truthseeker
* truth serum
* truthsome
* truth squad
* truth table
* truthteller
* truth-telling
* truth to tell
* truth tree
* truth value
* truthward
* truthwards
* truth will out
* truthy
* vacuous truth

#### Related terms

* true
* untrue

#### Translations

Abkhaz: аиашара (ajaŝara)
Adyghe: щыпкъэ (śəpqɛ), шъыпкъэ (ŝəpqɛ)
Afrikaans: waarheid
Albanian: e vërteta f
Arabic: حَقِيقَة (ar) f (ḥaqīqa)
Egyptian Arabic: حقيقة f (ḥaʔı̄ʔa), صراحة f (ṣarāḥa)
Aragonese: verdat
Aramaic:
Syriac: ܫܪܪܐ m (š(ə)rārāʾ)
Armenian: ճշմարտություն (hy) (čšmartutʻyun)
Aromanian: delihea n
Assamese: সঁচা (xõsa), সঁচা কথা (xõsa kotha)
Asturian: verdá f
Azerbaijani: həqiqət (az)
Bashkir: дөрөҫлөк (döröślök), хәҡиҡәт (xəqiqət)
Basque: egia (eu)
Belarusian: ве́рнасць f (vjérnascʹ)
Bengali: হক (bn) (hok), সাঁচা (bn) (śãca), সত্য (bn) (śotto)
Breton: gwirionez (br) f
Bulgarian: и́стина (bg) f (ístina)
Burmese: အမှန်တရား (my) (a.hmanta.ra:)
Buryat: үнэн (ünen)
Caló: chachipén m
Catalan: veritat (ca) f
Cebuano: kamatuoran
Cherokee: ᏚᏳᎪᏛ (duyugodv)
Chinese:
Mandarin: 保真度 (zh) (bǎozhēndù)
Czech: pravda (cs) f, věrnost (cs) f
Danish: sandhed (da) c
Dutch: oprechtheid (nl) f, eerlijkheid (nl) f
Egyptian: (mꜣꜥt)
Elfdalian: sanningg f
Esperanto: vero (eo)
Estonian: tõde, tõed pl, tõsi
Faroese: sannleiki m
Finnish: totuudenmukaisuus (fi), totuus (fi), todenmukaisuus (fi)
French: vérité (fr) f
Friulian: veretât, vêr m
Galician: verdade (gl) f
Georgian: სიმართლე (simartle), ერთგულება (ertguleba)
German: Wahrheit (de) f, Treue (de) f
Greek: αλήθεια (el) f (alítheia)
Ancient: ἀλήθεια f (alḗtheia)
Greenlandic: ilumoortoq, ilumoorneq
Gujarati: સત્ય (gu) m (satya)
Hausa: gaskiya
Hawaiian: ʻoiaʻiʻo
Hebrew: אמת (he) f (emét)
Hiligaynon: kamatuoran
Hindi: सच (hi) m (sac), सचाई (hi) (sacāī)
Hunsrik: Woherheet f, Woherheit f
Icelandic: sannleikur (is) m
Ido: vereso (io)
Igbo: eziokwu (ig)
Ilocano: pudno
Indonesian: kebenaran (id)
Interlingua: veritate
Irish: fírinne (ga) f
Italian: veritate f, verità (it)
Japanese: 誠 (ja) (まこと, makoto)
Kabardian: пэж (kbd) (pɛž)
Kannada: ಸತ್ಯ (kn) (satya)
Kapampangan: tutu
Kazakh: шындық (kk) (şyndyq)
Khmer: ការពិត (kaa pɨt)
Korean: 진실 (ko) (jinsil)
Kurdish:
Northern Kurdish: rastî (ku) f, heqîqet (ku) f
Kyrgyz: чындык (ky) (cındık)
Ladino: verdad f (בﬞירדאדﬞ), vedra f
Lao: ຄວາມຈິງ (lo) (khuām ching), ສັດຈະ (sat cha) (Buddhism)
Latgalian: tīsa, taisneiba
Latin: vēritās (la) f
Latvian: patiesība f, taisnība f, tiesa
Lithuanian: tiesa
Low German:
German Low German: Wohrheit f
Luganda: please add this translation if you can
Luxembourgish: Wourecht f
Macedonian: вистина (mk) f (vistina)
Malay: kebenaran (ms)
Malayalam: സത്യം (ml) (satyaṁ)
Maltese: verità f
Maori: pono (mi)
Marathi: खरं (khara)
Mirandese: please add this translation if you can
Mongolian: үнэн (mn) (ünen)
Nahuatl: neltiliztli
Neapolitan: verità, veritade, verdate
Nepali: सत्य (satya)
Norman: véthité f
Northern Sami: duohtavuohta
Norwegian:
Bokmål: sannhet (no) m or f
Nynorsk: sanning f
Occitan: vertat (oc) f, veritat (oc) f
Odia: please add this translation if you can
Old Occitan: veritat
Old Persian: 𐎠𐎼𐎫 (a-r-t /⁠arta⁠/)
Oromo: dhugaa
Ossetian: раст (rast)
Ottoman Turkish: حقیقت (hakikat), كرچك (gerçek)
Pangasinan: tua
Papiamentu: bèrdat
Pashto: رښتيا (ps)
Persian: حقیقت (fa) (haqiqat)
Piedmontese: vrità f
Plautdietsch: Woarheit f
Polish: wierność (pl) f, prawda (pl) f, racja (pl) f
Portuguese: verdade (pt) f
Punjabi: ਸਤਿ (pa) (sati)
Romanian: adevăr (ro) ncorectitudine (ro) f, sinceritate (ro), bună credință f, veridicitate (ro)
Romansch: vardad f (Rumantsch Grischun, Sursilvan, Sutsilvan), verdad f (Surmiran), vardet f (Puter), vardà f (Vallader)
Russian: ве́рность (ru) f (vérnostʹ)
Sanskrit: सत्य (sa) n (satya), सत्यता (sa) (satyatā), तथ्य (sa) n (tathya)
Sardinian: please add this translation if you can
Scots: please add this translation if you can
Scottish Gaelic: fìrinn f
Serbo-Croatian: istina (sh) f
Sicilian: viritati (scn) f, virità (scn) f, virtati (scn) f, virtà (scn) f
Silesian: prowda
Sindhi: سچ پچ
Sinhalese: සත්යය (satyaya)
Slovak: pravda f, vernosť f
Slovene: zvestoba (sl) f
Somali: runta
Spanish: verdad (es) f
Swahili: ukweli (sw)
Swedish: tro (sv) c, trohet (sv) c, troskap
Tagalog: katotohanan (tl), totoo
Tajik: ҳақиқӣ (tg) (haqiqi), ҳащищат (haščiščat)
Tamil: உண்மை (ta) (uṇmai)
Telugu: నమ్మకము (te) (nammakamu)
Thai: ความจริง (th) (kwaam-jing), สัจธรรม (th)
Tocharian B: empreṃ
Turkish: hakikat (tr)
Ukrainian: ві́рність f (vírnistʹ)
Urdu: سچ (sac), سچائی (sacāī)
Uyghur: please add this translation if you can
Uzbek: haqiqat (uz)
Venetan: verità (vec)
Vietnamese: tính trung thực
Volapük: verat (vo), fied (vo)
Walloon: please add this translation if you can
Welsh: gwir (cy) m
Wolof: please add this translation if you can
Xhosa: please add this translation if you can
Yiddish: אמת m (emes), האמת m (hoemes), נאמנות f (nemones), קײַמא־לן n (kayme-lon), וואָרהײַט (vorhayt), וואָר (vor)
Yoruba: otitọ
Zazaki: heqiqat, rastık
Zulu: iqiniso class lass9 :
    The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

### Verb

truth (third-person singular simple present truths, present participle truthing, simple past and past participle truthed)
* (obsolete, transitive) To assert as true; to declare; to speak truthfully.
** c. 1636 John Ford, The Fancies Chaste and Noble
    Had they [the ancients] dreamt this, they would have truthed it heaven.
* To make exact; to correct for inaccuracy.
** 1974, Proceedings of the International Symposium on Remote Sensing of Environment, page 226:A concentrated region of the agricultural test area was intensively ground truthed, not only to identify the crop types, but equally important, also to begin to determine the parameters controlling the radar energy reflected from a crop type at a particular stage of growth.
** 1990, Advanced Infrared Technology - Part 2, page cxxvi:As is shown in this table, APG images in the validation subset were only truthed with box models, and the 29P images in this subset were never truthed at all.
** 2003, Advances in Pattern Recognition ICAPR2003, →ISBN, page 67:This database, which consisists of nearly 180,000 characters, was manually truthed.
* (nonstandard, intransitive) To tell the truth.
** 1966, Nancy Sinatra, These Boots Are Made for Walkin':You keep lying, when you oughta be truthin'

### See also

* truth on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

### References

* “truth”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.
* truth in Keywords for Today: A 21st Century Vocabulary, edited by The Keywords Project, Colin MacCabe, Holly Yanacek, 2018.
* William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin E[li] Smith, editors (1911), “truth”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC.

### Anagrams

* Hurtt