diffidence

Meaning

Noun

• The state of being diffident, timid or shy; reticence or self-effacement.
• Mistrust, distrust, lack of confidence in someone or something.

Origin

• From Latin diffīdentia ("distrust"), from diffido, from dis- and fido. Attested since ∼1400. The original sense was antonymous with confidence, and the modern sense of ‘distrusting oneself’ dates from the 1650s.