Confident is an adjective used to describe people who have a feeling or belief that they can do something well or can be successful at something. confide And soul mate are all nouns referring to the person entrusted with the secret; soul mate used especially when the person is a woman.
Both are derived from the Latin word ‘confīdere’ (“to trust, to believe in, to be certain”).
There are many pairs of words in English that are irritating and difficult to distinguish, the lexical equivalent of itch powder combined with a large dose of nepenthe. Many of us have gone through life unable to consistently tell the difference between disable And provide energyor between you And vitiligo. To this list we can add the words confident And confide.
‘Confident’ vs ‘Confident’
Confident is an adjective that usually means “having or showing assurance and self-reliance.” confide is a noun meaning “one to whom the secret is entrusted.” Although they make up different parts of speech, the words overlap enough that they are sometimes confused. Both come from Latin confide (“put faith in, have faith in, be certain”), although confide through Italian and French before ending in English. And even though we don’t use the word confide in our definition of confideit’s easy to see how one might think of the word as ‘the one with whom the secret is confided’, and thus spell it with the letter E.
Confident is the older pairing, used in English in the mid-16th century; confide available from the 17th.
Is there any deer so stubborn now that it will not be moved or irritated by your steadfastness and the sweet promise of God, to have a bold faith and a firm belief in grace and superiority? the love of the almighty lord has promised us?— Urban Rhegius, A guide by Christen fayth1548
Got it my way? Why, who are you, sir? Are you better than my husband, man? Why are you so bold to say, I’ll do it my way? say it again, and by the faith I have in my Soulmate, My Brave Man will set an example for you.— John Lacy, dumb woman1672
We see, especially in the 17th century, confide sometimes spelled as confident. Less common, but still found, is confident spell it confide.
Be careful, ma’am, Madonte replied to me, (this is the Name of my Confident, or rather My Opponent, as I soon found out) avoid carefully going to the Extremes, this will make too much noise.— Anon ., The nature of love is guided by inclination1686
The way to do that is to draw her into her own Conspiracy, make her confident.— John Vanbrugh, relapse1697
Mars has a Nice Guy, the confidant of his Love; and when he went to bed with Venus, he left him at the Door to wake him up before dawn.— Pierre Danet, A complete dictionary of Greek and Roman antiquities1700
‘Confidant’ vs ‘Confidante’
Despite the intertwined beginnings of these words, they are now considered distinct. Less obvious is the difference between confide And soul mate. Some manuals have made the point that soul mate is reserved for a woman to whom a secret is entrusted, while confide should only be used by men. We determine confide without mentioning gender, and talking about soul mate that it is specifically (though not exclusively) used by a person who is a woman. It is not difficult to find examples of confide used by a woman, and soul mate of a man.
She idolizes him, and he considers her a confidant and confidant.— Welles Brandiff, American history (Harrisburg, PA), April 2019
Jack has a close relationship with his mother, he describes himself as her mother’s confidant.— American Journal of PsychoanalysisDecember 2013
You can use confide or soul mate without having to worry much about whether one or the other is more correct (although some manuals will make mistakes when used indiscriminately). Confident And confide are not interchangeable, and you should adopt whichever mnemonic works best to help you tell them apart. We recommend ‘confident friend is letter A, and confidence is letter E.’
Categories: Usage Notes
Source: vothisaucamau.edu.vn
