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defraudo

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Etymology and origin of the Latin word defraudo

Confidence
Established
Formation
Compound
First attested
c. 250–184 BC, Plautus
Ultimate origin
Latin (fraus)
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
Latin fraudo
Latin defraudo

Pronunciation

  • Classical: [deːˈfrau̯.doː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [deˈfraːu̯.do][1]

Forms

dēfraudō (present infinitive dēfraudāre, perfect active dēfraudāvī, supine dēfraudātum); first conjugation[1] Also written dēfrūdō.[2][3][4] The manuscripts have ⟨-au-⟩ and ⟨-u-⟩ without distinction, and editors prefer ⟨-u-⟩.[4][2] An inscription has defrudavi, a form Priscian also gives.[4] Plautus has the old future perfect dēfraudāssis.[3]

Etymology

It is from Latin dē- (“thoroughly”) + fraudō (“to cheat”),[2][4][5] and that verb is made from fraus (“deceit, fraud”).[6] De Vaan reconstructs that noun as Proto-Italic *frawV- and, uncertainly, Proto-Indo-European *dhrou-V́-d(h)-; he favours Schrijver's link with a root meaning “deceive” seen in Sanskrit ध्रुति (dhrúti, “deception, error”), and rejects Szemerényi's derivation from Proto-Indo-European *dhreugh- (“to deceive”) as resting on ad hoc assumptions.[6] The spelling with ⟨ū⟩ is compared by Lewis & Short to frūstrā (“in vain”) and to the compounds of claudō.[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan and the OLD find it first in Plautus;[6][2] in the Pseudolus a character asks whether the other means to hang himself just to cheat him, ut mē dēfrūdēs.[2][7]

Semantic evolution

In Plautus and Terence sē, animum or genium suum dēfraudāre is to deny oneself, to stint one's own desires,[2][7] and Cato writes of cheating the crop, sowing too little seed.[2][8] With an ablative it is to cheat someone out of something,[2] as in the proverbial nē andabatā quidem dēfraudāre in a letter of Cicero.[2][7] Lewis & Short call it ante-classical and late, found twice in Cicero and only in proverbial phrases;[3] Cicero also uses it of a speech whose brevity cheats the ear.[8][7] Petronius has nihil sibi dēfraudāre, to deny oneself nothing,[2][8] and Apuleius and the Vulgate use it with an ablative of what one is cheated of.[8] Ecclesiastical Latin has it in the sense to cheat, defraud,[9] and Old French defrauder and English defraud come from it.[5]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it of cheating someone and of denying oneself.[2][10]
  • 234–149 BC – Cato writes of cheating the crop.[2][10]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it in proverbial phrases.[3][10]
  • before 66 AD – Petronius has nihil sibi dēfraudāre.[2][10]
  • late 14th century – English borrows it, through Old French, as defraud.[5]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To cheat, defraud, swindle.[2][8][9]
  2. (with an ablative or a double accusative) To cheat (someone) out of, rob of.[2][7]
  3. sē (animum, genium suum) dēfraudāre: to deny oneself, to stint one's own wants;[2][8] nihil sibi dēfraudāre: to deny oneself nothing.[2][8]
  4. segetem dēfraudāre: to cheat the crop, to sow too little seed.[2]
  5. aurēs dēfraudāre: to disappoint the ear (of a speech that stops too soon).[8][7]

Word family

  • dēfraudātiō
  • dēfraudātor
  • defraudatrix

References

  1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d e Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  4. ^ a b c d Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  5. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  6. ^ a b c de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  7. ^ a b c d e f Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
  8. ^ a b c d e f g h Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
  9. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
  10. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
Cite this entry

“Defraudo.” Etymologically, 20 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/la/defraudo. Accessed 20 Oct. 2026.

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