NODE / 0692attestedPresent-Day English

true

TRANSLITERATION truePRONUNCIATION /truː/

in accord with fact; faithful; accurate

DATE: before 12th century–today
SENSE: fact faithful accurate
FAMILY: Indo-European / Germanic
CANONICAL KEY: node:1:true:attested:sense:fact-faithful-accurate

The oldest source-reported English sense is steadfast or loyal; current meanings remain plural.

ANCESTRAL EDGES

ROOT OF THIS ROOT

GO DEEPERcontinuationestablished

Middle English · Middle English · faithful steadfast adjective

trewe

faithful, steadfast, true

SOUND: Modern true continues Middle English trewe through regular English spelling and pronunciation history.
MEANING: Faithful and steadfast remain live senses beside factual accuracy.
CHRONOLOGY: Merriam-Webster reports use before the twelfth century.
SCHOLAR: Merriam-Webster Editors · American Heritage Dictionary Editors
CONFIDENCE: established

True — Definition, Word History, and First Known UsesupportsWord History and First Known Use

Supplies Middle English trewe, the Old English ancestry, current meanings, and the pre-twelfth-century horizon.

ORIGINAL ↗

True — American Heritage DictionarycontextHeadword etymology and Word History

Independently preserves steadfast and loyal in the history of true.

ORIGINAL ↗

OPEN CANONICAL EDGE 671 ↗

DIRECT DESCENDANT EDGES

THE NEXT HISTORICAL STEP

No reviewed descendants currently reuse this node. Absence describes the graph, not the entire history of the form.

TRANSITIVE DESCENDANT CLOSURE

EVERY REVIEWED BRANCH FROM HERE

This is the complete downstream closure currently supported by the canonical graph. Every displayed step is a real reviewed edge with its own sound claim, meaning claim, scholar, confidence, and citations.

UNIQUE DESCENDANT NODES: 0
REVIEWED EDGES: 0
DEEPEST PATH: 0
MODERN DOSSIERS REACHED: 0

No downstream edge has cleared review for this node. This is a graph-coverage statement, not a claim that the historical form produced nothing.

“Every” means every descendant in the reviewed SET-U graph. It does not convert missing scholarship or missing ingestion into a claim of historical completeness. The coverage ledger remains the honest denominator.

RECORDED EVIDENCE

ATTESTATIONS / FIRST KNOWN USE

SOURCE-REPORTEDlexicographic first useestablished

before 12th century

Merriam-Webster first-known-use report for true

Source-reported earliest written record located by current scholarship; no underlying Old English object was directly inspected.

true dossier · recorded as true

Merriam-WebsterWITNESS RECORD ↗True — Definition, Word History, and First Known Use ↗

EDITORIAL REUSE

WORD DOSSIERS USING THIS NODE

01truetrue · established