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falha

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Etymology and origin of the Portuguese word falha

Confidence
Probable
Formation
Inherited
First attested
1200s the cantigas, in the phrase sen falha More words from the 13th century
Inherited from
Latin *fallia
Ultimate origin
Latin fallo
Derivations

Pronunciation

  • Brazil: /ˈfa.ʎɐ/[1]
  • Portugal: /ˈfa.ʎɐ/[1]

Forms

falha f (plural falhas)[1] Old Galician-Portuguese wrote falla;[2][3] falha is recorded from the 15th century.[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *fallia (“defect, lack”), written Old Galician-Portuguese falla in the 13th century, according to Houaiss and Cunha, who both allow for the influence of the French word.[2][3] Houaiss points to the French phrase sans faille “without fail”, recorded from 1130.[2] García de Diego derives the Latin noun from fallō (“to be lacking, fail”).[4]

The REW lists Old Italian faglia, Old French faille and Old Occitan falha as outcomes of the same noun, the Occitan word passing into Old Spanish falla.[5] Wiktionary treats the Portuguese noun as a borrowing of French faille.[1] Nascentes gives the sense “defect” a Late Latin source and the sense “geological fault” a French one.[6] Aurélio likewise has a separate entry for the geological sense, from the Latin word through French.[7]

Silva Bastos, Figueiredo and DELPo made the noun a back-formation from falhar.[8][9][10] Houaiss and Cunha derive the verb from the noun instead, and Cunha dates the noun to the 13th century but the verb only to 1813.[3][11]

Earliest recorded meaning

The cantigas use the noun mostly in the phrase sen falha “without fail, truly”, which Afonso X writes several times.[12][13] Johan Soarez Coelho uses it for a falsehood or wrong: digu' eu que mente, ca diz mui gran falha “I say that he lies, for he speaks a great falsehood”.[12] The cantigas d'amigo have meter em falha “to fail, let down”.[12]

Semantic evolution

Bluteau defines it as a crack or flaw in glass or a gem, and as a natural or moral defect in a person.[14] He also records a provincial sense: alms given to the parish priest for saying a number of Our Fathers for a dead person.[14] Vieira says it of coins and precious stones and records dias de falha, days on which no work or trade is done.[15]

The old Caldas Aulete adds the geological fault, a break in the continuity of a stratum.[16] Modern senses include a breakdown in a system, a misfire of a gun and, informally, a mental quirk.[2][17] In southern Brazil a falha is a break in a journey, and estar de falha means to spend the night at someone's house.[2][18]

Timeline

  • 13th century – falla, and sen falha in the cantigas.[2][3][12]
  • 15th century – the spelling falha.[2]
  • c. 1450 – the Livro das tres vertudes (witness after 1450) uses the word.[19]
  • 1697 – Pereira translates it by Latin vitium and menda.[20]
  • 1712 – Bluteau: a crack in glass or a gem, and a defect in a person.[14]
  • 1789 – Morais: a crack in stones, a physical or moral defect.[21]
  • 1813 – first record of the verb falhar.[3]
  • 1844 – first record of the adjective falho.[3]
  • 1871 – Vieira records dias de falha.[15]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A crack, split or chip in a surface: Havia uma falha no tampo de mármore.[2][7][22]
  2. A flaw, defect or error: Encontraram uma falha no sistema de travagem.[2][16][1]
  3. A physical or moral defect: falha de caráter.[2][7]
  4. Something missing; an omission or gap.[2][16]
  5. A breakdown or failure in the normal working of something.[2][23][17]
  6. (informal) A mental imbalance; a mania.[2][7][22]
  7. (firearms) A misfire.[7][17]
  8. (southern Brazil) A break in a journey;[2][7][18] estar de falha, to stay the night at someone's house.[2][7][18]
  9. (geology) A fault, a fracture along which the strata have shifted.[2][7][1]
  10. (plural, Portugal) Shortfalls in a cashier's accounts, and the allowance paid to cover them.[22][8]

Word family

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f 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 Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. falha
  3. ^ a b c d e f g Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. falha
  4. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. s.v. *fallia
  5. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 3168
  6. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. falha
  7. ^ a b c d e f g h Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. falha
  8. ^ a b Silva Bastos, José Timóteo da (1912), Diccionario etymologico, prosodico e orthographico da lingua portugueza, Lisboa: Parceria António Maria Pereira, p. s.v. falha
  9. ^ Figueiredo, Cândido de (1899), Novo diccionário da língua portuguesa, 1st ed., 2 vols., Lisboa: Tavares Cardoso & Irmão, p. s.v. falha
  10. ^ NEHiLP – Núcleo de Apoio à Pesquisa em Etimologia e História da Língua Portuguesa, Universidade de São Paulo, DELPo: Dicionário Etimológico da Língua Portuguesa (online database), p. s.v. falha
  11. ^ Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. falhar
  12. ^ a b c d Instituto da Lingua Galega, Dicionario de dicionarios do galego medieval (DDGM), ed. Ernesto González Seoane, Santiago de Compostela: Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, https://ilg.usc.gal/ddgm, p. s.v. falha
  13. ^ Universo Cantigas: Glosario da poesía medieval profana galego-portuguesa, A Coruña: Instituto da Lingua e Literatura (ILLA), Universidade da Coruña, https://www.universocantigas.gal, p. s.v. falha
  14. ^ a b c Bluteau, Raphael (1712–1728), Vocabulario portuguez e latino, 8 vols. + 2 supplement vols., Coimbra / Lisboa (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. falha
  15. ^ a b Vieira, Frei Domingos (1871–1874), Grande Diccionario Portuguez ou Thesouro da lingua portugueza, 5 vols., Porto: Ernesto Chardron e Bartholomeu H. de Moraes, p. 3, 560
  16. ^ a b c Aulete, Francisco Júlio Caldas, Dicionário contemporâneo da língua portuguesa (1st ed. 1881), online as Aulete Digital, Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, https://aulete.com.br, p. s.v. falha
  17. ^ a b c Michaelis: Moderno Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, São Paulo: Melhoramentos (online as Michaelis Dicionário Brasileiro da Língua Portuguesa, https://michaelis.uol.com.br), p. s.v. falha
  18. ^ a b c Schlee, Aldyr Garcia (2019), Dicionário da Cultura Pampeana Sul-Rio-Grandense, 2 vols., Pelotas: Fructos do Paiz, p. s.v. falha
  19. ^ Centro de Linguística da Universidade de Lisboa, CTA – Corpus de Textos Antigos, https://teitok.clul.ul.pt/cta, p. s.v. falha
  20. ^ Pereira, Bento (1697), Thesouro da lingoa portuguesa, in the 1697 edition of his Prosodia (1st ed. 1647; CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. falha
  21. ^ Silva, António de Morais (1789), Diccionario da lingua portugueza composto pelo padre D. Rafael Bluteau, reformado, e accrescentado, 2 vols., Lisboa: Simão Thaddeo Ferreira, p. 1, 94
  22. ^ a b c Porto Editora (2013), Grande Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, Porto: Porto Editora, p. 4158
  23. ^ Academia das Ciências de Lisboa, Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, revised online edition (2023–) of the Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa Contemporânea (2001), https://dicionario.acad-ciencias.pt, p. s.v. falha

Related etymologies

Cite this entry

“Falha.” Etymologically, 15 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/pt/falha. Accessed 16 Nov. 2026.

Last edited on . ·