Meaning
To accept what someone says as true without demanding proof or verification.
It implies a degree of trust extended to the speaker, often used when independent confirmation would be difficult, unnecessary, or would itself signal distrust.
Origin
The phrase draws on the old sense of “word” as a person’s pledge or promise — that meaning already existed in Old English, and the construction “to take (one) at (one’s) word” is recorded by the 1530s. The extended form “take someone’s word for it,” meaning to accept a statement as sufficient proof in itself, grew from this same root sense over the following centuries, alongside the related courtroom notion that testimony given “on one’s word,” without independent corroboration, could still be accepted. English law has long distinguished sworn testimony, given under oath and subject to penalties for perjury, from an ordinary unsworn assurance — and choosing to accept the latter anyway is precisely the situation this idiom describes: trusting someone’s account even though nothing legally binds them to honesty.
Examples
I don’t have proof, but I’ll take her word for it.
You don’t need receipts — just take my word for it, the meeting went well.
He said the road was closed, so we took his word for it and turned back.
A: How do you know the paint is dry? B: I don’t, I’m just taking your word for it.
Frequently asked questions
What does 'Take someone's word for it' mean?
To accept what someone says as true without demanding proof or verification.
It implies a degree of trust extended to the speaker, often used when independent confirmation would be difficult, unnecessary, or would itself signal distrust.