English
failure
Failure comes from Anglo-Norman failer, from Old French faillir ‘to fail’, from Vulgar Latin *fallīre, from Latin fallō ‘to deceive’.
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEfallōas fallere‘to deceive; to disappoint’
- Vulgar Latinc. 100–700 CE*fallīrereconstructed
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400faliras faillir‘to fail’
- Anglo-Normanc. 1066–1400failer
- Englishearliest quotation 2012failure
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
Lineage
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEfallōas fallere‘to deceive; to disappoint’
- Vulgar Latinc. 100–700 CE*fallīrereconstructed
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400faliras faillir‘to fail’
- Anglo-Normanc. 1066–1400failer
- Englishearliest quotation 2012failure
Earliest quotation: 2012, Phil McNulty, Chelsea 2-1 Liverpool: “For Liverpool, their season will now be regarded as…”
Formed from fail + -ure
Latin fallō ‘to deceive’
Vulgar Latin *fallīre
Old French falir ‘to fail’
Middle English failen
English fail
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *(s)gʷʰh₂el- ‘to stumble’
through Proto-Italic *falsō
default, falsely, falsetto, 6 more
through Latin fallō ‘to deceive, beguile, trick, cheat, delude,…’
fault, false, faux, fallacy, fallacious, fallible, falsify, falsity, 8 more
Today it means
noun State or condition of not meeting a desirable or intended objective, opposite of success.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Latin fallō / failure