Where does “fault” come from?
Fault comes from Middle English faulte, from Old French faute, from Vulgar Latin fallita, from Latin falsus, the past participle of fallo meaning to deceive or fail.
fault (English): A defect; something that detracts from...
Definitions
- A defect; something that detracts from...
Ancestry of “fault”, step by step
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|
| 1 | Middle English | faulte | — |
| 2 | Old French | faute | fault; error; mistake |
| 3 | Vulgar Latin | fallita | shortcoming |
| 4 | Latin | falsus | deceived, tricked, cheated, disappointed, having... |
| 5 | Latin | fallō | — |
| 6 | Proto-Indo-European | ǵʰwel- | to bend; to lie, deceive |
Words derived from “fault”