affidavit

See also: affidávit

English

Etymology

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

• IPA^(key): /ˌæfɪˈdeɪvɪt/, (Philippines, nonstandard) /-ævɪt/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -eɪvɪt, (Philippines) -ævɪt

Noun

affidavit (plural affidavits)

1. (law) A signed document wherein an affiant makes a sworn statement.

   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.

Derived terms

• affidavit man
• evidentiary abuse affidavit

Translations

legal, signed document wherein an affiant makes a sworn statement

• Catalan: afidàvit m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 宣誓書 / 宣誓书 (xuānshìshū)

• Czech: čestné prohlášení n
• Dutch: affidavit (nl) n, beëdigde verklaring f
• Esperanto: afidavito
• Finnish: valaehtoinen kirjallinen todistus
• French: affidavit (fr), attestation sur l’honneur f
• Galician: despoemento m, afirmamento m
• German: eidesstattliche Versicherung (de) f, eidesstattliche Erklärung (de) f, Versicherung an Eides statt (de) f
• Greek: ένορκη γραπτή κατάθεση f (énorki graptí katáthesi)
• Hebrew: תצהיר (he) m (tatzhir)
• Hindi: हलफ़नामा m (halafnāmā)
• Hungarian: eskü alatt tett írásbeli nyilatkozat (literally “a written statement made under oath”), eskünyilatkozat
• Icelandic: eiðsvarin yfirlýsing f, skrifleg yfirlýsing f, eiðfest yfirlýsing f
• Indonesian: dokumen sah, afidavit (id)
• Japanese: 宣誓供述書 (せんせいきょうじゅつしょ, sensei kyōjutsusho), 供述書 (きょうじゅつしょ, kyōjutsusho)
• Kazakh: аффидевит (affidevit)
• Korean: 선서진술서 (seonseojinsulseo)
• Malay: afidavit
• Malayalam: സത്യവാങ്മൂലം (ml) (satyavāṅmūlaṁ)
• Polish: affidavit (pl) m
• Portuguese: affidavit m
• Romanian: afidavit n
• Russian: аффиде́вит (ru) m (affidɛ́vit), аффидави́т (ru) m (affidavít), пи́сьменное показа́ние под прися́гой n (písʹmennoje pokazánije pod prisjágoj)
• Sinhalese: දිවුරුම් පත (diwurum pata), දිවුරුම් පෙත්සම n (diwurum petsama)
• Spanish: declaración jurada f, affidávit (es) m, afidávit (es) m
• Tagalog: sinumpaang salaysay
• Urdu: حلف نامہ (half nāmah)

Verb

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

• affidavit on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

French

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /a.fi.da.vit/

• Audio:

  (file)

Noun

affidavit m (plural affidavits)

1. affidavit

Further reading

• “affidavit”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Latin

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /af.fiːˈdaː.u̯it/, [äfːiːˈd̪äːu̯ɪt̪]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /af.fiˈda.vit/, [äfːiˈd̪äːvit̪]

Verb

affīdāvit

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

Portuguese

Noun

affidavit m (plural affidavits)

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