English
faint
Faint comes from Old French faint, from Latin fingere ‘to touch, handle, form, shape, frame, form in…’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *dʰeyǵʰ- ‘to mold’.
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*dʰeyǵʰ-‘to mold’reconstructed
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEfingere‘to touch, handle, form, shape, frame, form in thought, imagine, conceive, contrive’
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400faint
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500faynt‘weak’
- Englishearliest quotation 1789faint
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Lineage
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*dʰeyǵʰ-‘to mold’reconstructed
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEfingere‘to touch, handle, form, shape, frame, form in thought, imagine, conceive, contrive’
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400faint
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500faynt‘weak’
- Englishearliest quotation 1789faint
Earliest quotation: 1789, Robert Burns: “Faint heart ne'er won fair lady.”
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *dʰeyǵʰ- ‘to mold’
figure, lady, fiction, paradise, dough, dairy, fictitious, dey, effigy, feign, figment, 26 more
through Latin fingere ‘to touch, handle, form, shape, frame, form in…’
Another origin of faint
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500fainten
- Englishtodayfaint
Today it means
adj Lacking strength; weak; languid; inclined to lose consciousness
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *dʰeyǵʰ- / faint