Etymologically
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fail

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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

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