believe: [OE] Believing and loving are closely allied. Late Old English belēfan took the place of an earlier gelēfan ‘believe’ (with the associative prefix ge-), which can be traced back to a prehistoric West and North Germanic *galaubjan (source also of German glauben ‘believe’). This meant ‘hold dear, love’, and hence ‘trust in, believe’, and it was formed on a base, *laub-, which also produced, by various routes, English love, lief ‘dear’, leave ‘permission’, and the second element of furlough. => furlough, leave, lief, love
believe (v.)
Old English belyfan "to believe," earlier geleafa (Mercian), gelefa (Northumbrian), gelyfan (West Saxon) "believe," from Proto-Germanic *ga-laubjan "to believe," perhaps literally "hold dear, love" (cognates: Old Saxon gilobian "believe," Dutch geloven, Old High German gilouben, German glauben), ultimately a compound based on PIE *leubh- "to care, desire, love" (see belief).
Spelling beleeve is common till 17c.; then altered, perhaps by influence of relieve, etc. To believe on instead of in was more common in 16c. but now is a peculiarity of theology; believe of also sometimes was used in 17c. Related: Believed (formerly occasionally beleft); believing. Expression believe it or not attested by 1874; Robert Ripley's newspaper cartoon of the same name is from 1918. Emphatic you better believe attested from 1854.
双语例句
1. Words like " believe " and " receive " are a source of confusion in spelling.
诸如believe和receive这样的词在拼写上容易混淆.
来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
2. I believe he is most painfully anxious about Diana.
我相信他肯定非常担心黛安娜。
来自柯林斯例句
3. I believe that a journalist should be completely objective.
我认为新闻记者不应当有丝毫偏见。
来自柯林斯例句
4. And would you believe it, he's younger than me!
你信吗？他比我年轻！
来自柯林斯例句
5. They can't believe you can even hold a conversation.
