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 more faithful, superlative 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, The Missouri Breaks:

     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.
7. (ring theory, of a module) Whose annihilator is zero.

Derived terms

• faithful as a dog
• faithful functor
• faithfully
• faithfulness
• fully faithful
• 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 (bn) (biśśosto), অনুগত (bn) (onugoto)
• 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 (gl), leal (gl)
• Georgian: ერთგული (ertguli)
• German: treu (de), loyal (de), anhänglich (de), treu ergeben, zuverlässig (de), getreu (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)
• Ingrian: vernoi
• Italian: fedele (it), ligio (it) m
• Japanese: 忠実な (ja) (ちゅうじつな, chūjitsu na)
• Kazakh: адал (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) (cıncıl), ишенчиликтүү (ky) (işenciliktüü), 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)
• Maori: pirihonga, piripono
• Mongolian:

  Cyrillic: үнэнч (mn) (ünenč)

  Mongolian: ᠦᠨᠡᠨᠴᠢ (ünenči)

• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: trofast (no)

  Nynorsk: trufast

• Old English: trīewe, ġetrīewe
• Pashto: وفادار (wafādãr)
• Persian: وفادار (fa) (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 (gl), crente
• Georgian: please add this translation if you can
• German: treu (de), gläubig (de), glaubenstreu
• 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) (ʔamīn)
• Catalan: fidel (ca)
• Danish: pålidelig
• Dutch: trouw (nl)
• Finnish: luotettava (fi)
• French: fidèle (fr)
• Galician: leal (gl), fiel (gl)
• German: treu (de), zuverlässig (de), ergeben (de), vertrauensvoll (de), vertrauenswürdig (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)
• German: genau (de), übereinstimmend (de), gewissenhaft (de), getreu (de), werktreu, sinngetreu, orginalgetreu, detailgetreu (de), klangtreu, naturgetreu (de), wahrheitsgetreu (de), glaubwürdig (de)
• 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, 2:11:25 from the start, in Dune‎^[1] (Science Fiction), spoken by Paul Atreides, →OCLC:

     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^[2]:

     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.

Further reading

• “old faithful”, in Collins English Dictionary.