fail

Pronunciation

• IPA: /feɪl/^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English failen,^[2][3] borrowed from Old French faillir (“to be lacking, miss, not succeed; to run out; to err; to let down”), falir,^[4][2] from Vulgar Latin *fallīre,^[2][3] an alteration of Latin fallere (“to trip, cause to fall; to deceive, cheat; to be lacking or defective”).^[4][2][5] De Vaan traces fallere to a root meaning “to stumble”, compare Sanskrit skhalate “stumbles, fails” and Greek sphállein “to throw down”, so that “deceive” would be a metaphor from “stumble”.^[4] It replaced Old English ābrēoþan.^[4] The noun, as in without fail, is from Old French faille.^[2][6] It is related to false, fault and failure.^[2][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

“To be unsuccessful; to cease to exist or function, come to an end”: probably before 1200, in the Ancrene Riwle,^[2] about 1200 in Etymonline.^[4]

Semantic evolution

“To fail in expectation or performance” is from the early 13th century.^[4] Of supplies of food or goods, “to run short”, it is from the mid-13th century,^[4] and of crops and of strength or courage, “to grow feeble”, from about 1300.^[4] Of material objects, “to break down”, it is from the late 14th century.^[4] The noun, without fail, is from about 1275,^[2] 1297 in the OED.^[8] The academic fail, a grade below the pass mark, is from 1944.^[8] Failure is from 1660, replacing failer (1643), an Anglicized law-French word.^[2] In Scotland, a fail was also a sod of turf, of unknown origin.^[9][8]

Timeline

• c. 1200 – to be unsuccessful.^[2][4]
• early 13th century – to disappoint.^[4]
• c. 1275 – without fail.^[2]
• c. 1300 – of crops, strength.^[4]
• late 14th century – to break down.^[4]
• 1660 – failure.^[2]
• 1944 – an examination fail.^[8]

Modern meaning

Verb

1. To be unsuccessful: the plan failed.
2. To receive a grade below the pass mark, or to give one.
3. To fall short; to prove insufficient or give out.
4. To stop working: the brakes failed.
5. To weaken or decline: her health is failing.
6. To go bankrupt.
7. To disappoint or let down: my courage failed me.
8. To omit or neglect: failed to notice.

Noun

1. Failure, now only in without fail.
2. An unsuccessful result in an examination.

Word family

• failingly
• fail-safe
• failure
• pass-fail
• fail-soft

Related words

• default
• fallacy
• false
• fault
• fallible

References

1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
3. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (2000), 4th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ a b c d Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
9. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press