English

failboy

Compound of fail + boy.

A compound of fail + boy

Latin fallō ‘to deceive’

Vulgar Latin *fallīre

Old French falir ‘to fail’

Middle English failen

English fail

Proto-Indo-European *bʰā-

…

Proto-Germanic *bōjô ‘younger brother’

Proto-West Germanic *bōjō

Old English *bōia ‘boy’

Middle English boye ‘servant, commoner, knave, boy’

English boy

Today it means

noun Synonym of boyfailure.

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