• (RP) IPA: /tɹəʊθ/, /tɹɒθ/
• (GA) IPA: /tɹoʊθ/, /tɹɔθ/

troth

1. (countable, archaic) An oath, pledge#Noun|pledge, or promise#Noun|promise.
   • 1387–1400, Geoffrey Chaucer, “The Freres Tale”, in The Canterbury Tales (in Middle English), [Westminster: William Caxton, published 1478], OCLC 230972125 ↗; republished in [William Thynne], editor, The Workes of Geffray Chaucer Newlye Printed, […], [London]: Printed by [Richard Grafton for] Iohn Reynes […], 1542, OCLC 932884868 ↗, folio xliii, verso ↗:

     Euerich in other his trouthe laythe / For to be ſworne brethern, til they dey / And with the#Middle English|yͤ worde they riden forth her wey / [...] / Nowe by my trouth brother dere ſayd he / As I ſhal tellen thee#Middle English|the a faithful tale [...]

     Each in the other his troth lay / For to be sworn brothers, till they died / And with the word they rode forth on their way / [...] / Now by my troth brother dear, said he / As I shall tell you a faithful tale [...]

   • c. 1596–1599, William Shakespeare, The Second Part of Henrie the Fourth, […], quarto edition, London: Printed by V[alentine] S[immes] for Andrew Wise, and William Aspley, published 1600, OCLC 55178895 ↗, [Act III, scene ii] ↗:

     By my troth I care not, a man can die but once, we owe God a death, [...]

   • 1883, Howard Pyle, “The Shooting-match at Nottingham Town”, in The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood of Great Renown, in Nottinghamshire, New York, N.Y.: Printed by Charles Scribner’s Sons […], OCLC 22773434 ↗, part first, page 32 ↗:

     And by my faith and troth I have a good part of a mind to have thee beaten for thine insolence!

   1. (countable, archaic) A pledge or promise to marry someone.
      • 1893, Henry James, “Collaboration”, in The Wheel of Time; Collaboration; Owen Wingrave, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers publishers, OCLC 932066270 ↗, page 110 ↗:

        Vendemer’s sole fortune is his genius, and he and Paule, who confessed to an answering flame, plighted their troth like a pair of young rustics or (what comes for French people to the same thing) young Anglo-Saxons.

   2. (countable, archaic) The state of being thus pledged; betrothal, engagement.
      • 1826, [James Fenimore Cooper], chapter XIV, in The Last of the Mohicans; a Narrative of 1757. [...] In Two Volumes, volume I, Philadelphia, Pa.: H[enry] C[harles] Carey & I[saac] Lea, Chestnut-Street, OCLC 1538219 ↗, page 248 ↗:

        I did, therefore, what an honest man should; restored the maiden her troth, and departed the country, in the service of my king.

2. (countable, uncountable, archaic) Truth; something true#Adjective|true.

• truth

• German: Treuegelöbnis, Treueversprechen, Treueeid, Treue
• Russian: честное сло́во

• German: Eheversprechen

• German: Verlobung
• Russian: помо́лвка

troth (troths, present participle trothing; past and past participle trothed)

1. (obsolete) To pledge to marry somebody.