Etymology: Middle English trewe and triewe , mostly in plural form trewes and triewes < Old English tréow , noun masculine (feminine plural tréwa ), ‘truth or fidelity to a promise, good faith, assurance of faith or truth, promise, engagement, covenant, league’, = Old East Frisian tríuwe , Old West Frisian and Middle Dutch trouwe (Dutch trouw ), Old Saxon treuwa , tríuwa , Old High German tríuwa (Middle High German triuwe , German treue ) < West German *trewwa , Gothic triggwa ‘covenant’ (whence late Latin and Romanic tregua , treuga , French trève ); also, in ablaut form, Old English trúwa , noun masculine and plural -an ; = Old Norse trúa , trú , Norwegian trū , Swedish trōa : see true adj. Already in Old English the plural tréwa was often used in the sense of the singular; this became still more frequent with the Middle English plural trewes, triues, triwes, trues, and finally this, as trews, trewse, truse, truce, became the received singular (apparently in reference to the pledges or engagements given by both parties), with a new plural truses, truces, when required. Compare cherries, pease. See also trève from French, and the rare treuges after Medieval Latin treugas.

Etymology: < truce n.