Wiktionary

affidavit

See also: affidávit

English

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Etymology

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From Medieval Latin affidavit (“he has sworn”), the third person singular perfect tense of affido (“swear”), from fīdō, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *bʰeydʰ- (“to command, to persuade, to trust”). Cognate to fidelity and faith (same Latin root), but not to affirm (shared Latin ad- prefix, but different Latin and Proto-Indo-European roots).

Pronunciation

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  • IPA(key): /ˌæfɪˈdeɪvɪt/, (Philippines, nonstandard) /-ævɪt/
  • Audio:(file)
  • Hyphenation: af‧fi‧da‧vit
  • Rhymes: -eɪvɪt, (Philippines) -ævɪt

Noun

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affidavit (plural affidavits)

  1. (law) A signed document wherein an affiant makes a sworn statement.
    Synonyms: sworn statement, deposition, oath, testimony
    He submitted his affidavit rather than appearing to testify in court.
    • 1962 [1959], William S. Burroughs, Naked Lunch, New York: Grove Press, page 170:
      Lee's case is urgent. He has to file an immediate affidavit that he is suffering from bubonic plague to avoid eviction from the house he has occupied ten years without paying the rent.
    • 1984 December 8, “Pressing Records”, in Gay Community News, volume 12, number 21, page 2:
      All lifters were certified by affidavit and polygraph to be steroid free.
    • 2024 September 24, Adria R Walker, “Haitian immigrant group calls for arrest warrants for Trump and Vance in Ohio”, in The Guardian‎[1]:
      “Trump and Vance have knowingly spread a false and dangerous narrative by claiming that Springfield, Ohio’s Haitian community is criminally killing and eating neighbors’ dogs and cats, and killing and eating geese,” the affidavit reads.

Usage notes

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An affidavit differs from a deposition in that it is usually a written statement made voluntarily and outside of court, whereas a deposition involves oral testimony given under oath during legal proceedings. Testimony includes statements of fact that may or may not be made under oath.

Derived terms

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Translations

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Verb

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affidavit (third-person singular simple present affidavits, present participle affidaviting, simple past and past participle affidavited)

  1. (law) To swear by such a document.

Further reading

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French

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Pronunciation

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Noun

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affidavit m (plural affidavits)

  1. affidavit

Further reading

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Latin

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Pronunciation

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Verb

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affīdāvit

  1. third-person singular perfect active indicative of affīdō (“to swear”)

Portuguese

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Noun

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affidavit m (plural affidavits)

  1. (law) affidavit (legal, signed document wherein an affiant makes a sworn statement)

Spanish

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Etymology

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Unadapted borrowing from Latin affidavit.

Pronunciation

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  • IPA(key): /afiˈdabit/ [a.fiˈð̞a.β̞it̪]
  • Rhymes: -abit
  • Syllabification: af‧fi‧da‧vit

Noun

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affidavit m (plural affidavits)

  1. alternative form of afidávit

Usage notes

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According to Royal Spanish Academy (RAE) prescriptions, unadapted foreign words should be written in italics in a text printed in roman type, and vice versa, and in quotation marks in a manuscript text or when italics are not available. In practice, this RAE prescription is not always followed.

Further reading

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  • Seco, Manuel; Andrés, Olimpia; Ramos, Gabino (2023), “affidavit”, in Diccionario del español actual (in Spanish), third digital edition, Fundación BBVA
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