Mistrust
/ˌmɪsˈtrʌst/noun
Lack of trust or confidence in someone or something.
Did you know?The first part, mis-, is an old Germanic prefix meaning “wrongly” or “badly,” so the word was built to mark trust as damaged from the start.
Etymological Timeline
Proto-Germanic
PGmc
*ga-trustō
“trust, confidence, firmness”
Old English
OE
trēowþ
“faith, loyalty, trustworthiness”
Old English
OE
mis-
“wrongly, badly, amiss”
Middle English
ME
mistrusten
“to distrust, to have no confidence in”
Modern English
English
mistrust
“lack of trust or confidence; to distrust”