The story
- Late Latin · derived fromfacia
- Old French · derived fromdefacier
- Middle English · inherited fromdefacen
- English todaydeface
From Middle English defacen, from Old French defacier, desfacier (“to mutilate, destroy, disfigure”), from des- (“away from”) (see dis-) + Late Latin facia.
Words from the same roots
Late Latinfacia all →
face
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.