Etymology

defiance

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Today it means: The feeling, or spirit of being defiant. Full definition →

Middle English defiaunce ← Old French desfiance
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The story

  1. Old French · derived fromdesfiance
  2. Middle English · inherited fromdefiaunce
  3. English todaydefiance

From Middle English defiaunce, from Old French desfiance, from desfier. By surface analysis, defy + -ance.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.