credenti

Credenti is an Italian noun meaning “believers.” It is the plural form of credente, which denotes a person who professes a belief or faith. The term derives from credere “to believe” and the agent noun suffix -ente. In everyday Italian, credenti refers to members of a religious community who share a creed or faith, such as Christians, Muslims, Jews, or other groups.

In religious and sociological writing, credenti is used to describe the body of adherents within a church or denomination, often in contrast to clergy, leaders, or skeptics. It can denote lay followers collectively or, more narrowly, those who actively participate or profess belief. The word appears in historical and contemporary Italian texts discussing church membership, religious identity, and communal life.

As a word, credenti may appear in discussions about inclusion, religious rights, and social demographics. It is not ordinarily used as a proper noun for a specific organization; when capitalized as Credenti it may refer to a surname or a proper name in rare cases, but such uses are not standard.

Related terms include credente (the singular form) and crede (the verb “believes”). The concept is primarily linguistic and sociocultural, describing a group defined by shared belief within religious communities.