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

  1. A defect; something that detracts from...

Ancestry of “fault”, step by step

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Middle Englishfaulte
2Old Frenchfautefault; error; mistake
3Vulgar Latinfallitashortcoming
4Latinfalsusdeceived, tricked, cheated, disappointed, having...
5Latinfallōto deceive, beguile, trick, cheat, delude, ensnare, disappoint
6Proto-Indo-Europeanǵʰwel-to bend; to lie, deceive

Words derived from “fault

Every word from Proto-Indo-European ǵʰwel-