Etymology

defect

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Today it means: A fault or malfunction. Full definition →

Latin dēfectus ← Proto-Italic *fakjō ← Proto-Indo-European *dʰh₁kyéti
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The story

  1. Proto-Indo-European*de
  2. Proto-Indo-European*déh₁
  3. Proto-Italic*dē
  4. Latindē
  5. Latinde-
  6. Proto-Indo-European*dʰeh₁-
  7. Proto-Indo-European*dʰeh₁k-
  8. Proto-Indo-European*dʰh₁kyéti
  9. Proto-Italic*θakjō
  10. Proto-Italic*fakjō
  11. Latinfacio
  12. Latindēficiō
  13. Latindēfectus
  14. English todaydefect

Borrowed from Latin defectus (“a failure, lack”), from deficere (“to fail, lack, literally 'undo'”), from past participle defectus, from de- (“of, from”) + facere (“to do”).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.