testify

English

Etymology

PIE word
*tréyes

From Middle English testifien, borrowed from Old French testifier, from Latin testificārī (“to bear witness”), from testis (“a witness”) + facere (“to make”). See -fy.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈtɛstɪfaɪ/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Hyphenation: tes‧ti‧fy

Verb

testify (third-person singular simple present testifies, present participle testifying, simple past and past participle testified) (ambitransitive)

1. To make a declaration, or give evidence, under oath.
   • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Numbers 35:30:

     One witness shall not testify against any person to cause him to die.

   • 2011 October 28, Alan Duke, “Michael Jackson gave himself fatal overdose, expert says”, in CNN‎^[1], Atlanta, Ga.: Warner Bros. Discovery, archived from the original on 29 December 2016:

     Michael Jackson probably died after he rapidly injected himself with a dose of the surgical anesthetic propofol on top of a large dose of sedatives he swallowed when Dr. Conrad Murray was away, the defense’s propofol expert testified Friday.

   • 2014 August 29, Ruzwana Bashir, “The untold story of how a culture of shame perpetuates abuse. I know, I was a victim”, in Alan Rusbridger, editor, The Guardian‎^[2], London: Guardian News & Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 9 February 2021:

     It was only after a decade away from Skipton that I was finally able to garner the courage to return and testify against my abuser.

2. To make a statement based on personal knowledge or faith.
   • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, John 3:11:

     We speak that we do know, and testify that we have seen; and ye receive not our witness.

   • 1733, Tho[mas] Allen, “Jesus Christ’s Sixth Royal Embassy; or Word to the Angel of the Church in Philadelphia”, in The Christian’s Sure Guide to Eternal Glory: Or, Living Oracles Most Comfortable, Holy and Instructive of the Lord Jesus Christ from Heaven, in His Royal Embassy to the Seven Churches of Asia, […], London: […] Francis Jefferies […], →OCLC, page 253:

     [T]he pleaſures of ſenſe have no reliſh vvhere thou [Jesus] irradiateſt and teſtifieſt vvith our conſcience, that vve are the children of God, and have done thy vvill ſincerely, […]

3. (with to) To be evidence of.
   • 1978 [1976], Leszek Kołakowski, translated by P[aul] S[teven] Falla, Main Currents of Marxism, volume II: The Golden Age, Oxford: Clarendon Press, →ISBN, →OCLC, page 508, translation of Główne nurty marksizmu: rozwój (in Polish):

     Paradoxically, the sharp and unambiguous formulas in which Lenin called for the use of terror and denied the possibility of democracy and freedom testified to the fact that freedom had not yet been completely eradicated.

   • 2025, Cid Swanenvleugel, The Pre-Roman Elements of the Sardinian Lexicon, page 15:

     "Iberian-Sardinian" substrate features have been posited time and time again. These have usually been explained as testifying to a migration from the Iberian Peninsula to Sardinia in prehistoric times.

Conjugation

Conjugation of testify

infinitive	(to) testify
	present tense	past tense
1st-person singular	testify	testified
2nd-person singular	testify, testifiest†	testified, testifiedst†
3rd-person singular	testifies, testifieth†	testified
plural	testify
subjunctive	testify	testified
imperative	testify	—
participles	testifying	testified

^† Archaic or obsolete.

Synonyms

• bear witness

Derived terms

• retestify
• testifiable
• testifiee
• testilie
• testilying
• untestified
• untestifying

Related terms

• attest
• testimony
• testimonial

Translations

to make a declaration, or give evidence, under oath

• Albanian: dëshmoj (sq)
• Arabic: شَهِدَ (ar) (šahida)
• Armenian: վկայել (hy) (vkayel), վկայություն տալ (vkayutʻyun tal)
• Bulgarian: свидетелствам (svidetelstvam)
• Catalan: declarar (ca), testificar (ca), testimoniar (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 作證 / 作证 (zh) (zuòzhèng)

• Czech: svědčit (cs)
• Danish: bevidne
• Dutch: getuigen (nl)
• Egyptian: (mtr)
• Finnish: todistaa (fi)
• French: témoigner (fr), attester (fr)
• German: bezeugen (de)
• Gothic: 𐍅𐌴𐌹𐍄𐍅𐍉𐌳𐌾𐌰𐌽 (weitwōdjan)
• Greek:

  Ancient Greek: μαρτυρέω (marturéō)

• Higaonon: saksi
• Hungarian: tanúvallomást tesz, tanúskodik (hu), vall (hu)
• Italian: deporre (it), testimoniare (it)
• Japanese: 証言する (ja) (しょうげんする, shōgen suru)
• Korean: 증언하다 (jeung'eonhada)
• Latin: testificor
• Māori: taunaki
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: bevitne

• Persian: شهادت دادن (fa)
• Polish: zeznawać
• Portuguese: declarar (pt), depor (pt)
• Romanian: atesta (ro) (jurând), declara (ro) (jurând), adeveri (ro)
• Russian: свиде́тельствовать (ru) impf (svidételʹstvovatʹ), засвиде́тельствовать (ru) pf (zasvidételʹstvovatʹ), дава́ть показа́ния impf (davátʹ pokazánija), дать показа́ния pf (datʹ pokazánija)
• Serbo-Croatian: svjedòčiti (sh)
• Spanish: testificar (es)
• Swedish: vittna (sv)
• Tagalog: manaksi
• Turkish: ifade vermek (tr)

to make a statement based on personal knowledge or faith

• Bulgarian: изразявам (bg) (izrazjavam)
• Greek:

  Ancient Greek: μαρτυρέω (marturéō)

• Hungarian: tanúsít (hu), tanúskodik (hu), tanúságot tesz
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: bevitne

• Portuguese: atestar (pt)
• Romanian: atesta (ro)
• Russian: свиде́тельствовать (ru) impf (svidételʹstvovatʹ), засвиде́тельствовать (ru) pf (zasvidételʹstvovatʹ)
• Serbo-Croatian: svjedòčiti (sh)
• Spanish: atestiguar (es), aseverar (es)
• Swedish: vittna (sv)
• Tagalog: manaksi

See also

• compel testimony

Further reading

• “testify”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin Eli Smith, editors (1895–1910), “testify”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC.