Etymograph

English

defeat

Defeat comes from Middle English defeten, from defet ‘undone’, from Old French desfait, the participle of desfaire ‘to undo’.

  1. Old Frenchc. 842–1400desfaire‘to undo’
  2. Old French, derivedc. 842–1400desfait‘undone, defeated’
  3. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500defet‘disfigured; defect’
  4. Middle English, derivedc. 1150–1500defeten‘to destroy, defeat’
  5. Englishearliest quotation 1664defeat

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed

Lineage

  1. Old Frenchc. 842–1400desfaire‘to undo’
  2. Old French, derivedc. 842–1400desfait‘undone, defeated’
  3. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500defet‘disfigured; defect’
  4. Middle English, derivedc. 1150–1500defeten‘to destroy, defeat’
  5. Englishearliest quotation 1664defeat

Earliest quotation: 1664, John Tillotson, Sermon I. The Wisdom of Being Religious. Job XXVIII. 28.: “He finds himself naturally to dread a superior Being…”

Every English word from Old French desfaire

Another origin of defeat

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*dwóh₁‘two’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-European, derivedc. 4500–2500 BCE*dwís‘twice, doubly’root as named · steps between not traced
  3. Frenchc. 1600–presentdeffet
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500defet
  5. Englishtodaydefeat

Today it means

verb To overcome in battle or contest.

Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.

Etymograph / Old French desfaire / defeat

Shirt and support for this word