Etymology

demerit

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Today it means: A quality of being inadequate; a disadvantage, a fault. Full definition →

Middle English demerit, demerite ← Old French desmerite ← Latin dēmeritum
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demerit · noun1

  1. Latin · derived fromdēmeritum
  2. Old French · derived fromdesmerite
  3. Middle English · inherited fromdemerit, demerite
  4. English todaydemerit

From Middle English demerit, demerite, from Old French desmerite (modern French démérite) and its etymon Latin dēmeritum. By surface analysis, de- + merit.

demerit · verb2

  1. Latin · borrowed fromdēmerit-
  2. English todaydemerit

From Latin dēmerit-, the past partipicial stem of dēmereō. By surface analysis, de- + merit.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.