Word of the Day

: November 3, 2015

confidant

noun KAHN-fuh-dahnt

What It Means

: one to whom secrets are entrusted; especially : an intimate friend

confidant in Context

"Who that has a confidant escapes believing too little in his penetration, and too much in his discretion?" — George Eliot, Daniel Deronda, 1876

"Did I mention the sextet of human-sized rats? These adorable rodents serve various functions as confidants, stagehands and onlookers, their scurrying cleverly synchronized with the music to which it provides nifty visual counterpoint." — John von Rhein, The Chicago Tribune, 6 Oct. 2015

Did You Know?

If you're confident of the trustworthiness of your confidants, you're inadvertently aware of the origins of the word confidant. It comes from the French noun confident, which goes back to the Italian adjective confidente, meaning "confident" or "trustworthy" and to the Latin verb confidere, meaning "to confide"—the root of which is fidere, meaning "to trust." Other descendants of confidere in English include confide, confidence,and confident, as well as confidential (which was formed from confidence).