creed [OE] Creed is from the Latin credo ‘I believe’, the opening words of the Apostles’ Creed in the Christian Church. The sense of a statement of any belief or cherished opinion dates from the early 16th century. Credulity [LME], belief, particularly a foolish willingness to believe, and credulous [M16th] go back to the same Latin root, as does miscreant [ME], originally referring to an unbeliever but developing the sense of a villain or felon in the late 16th century.