disappoint

The story

1. Middle French · derived fromdesapointer, desappointer
2. Middle English · inherited fromdisapointen, disapoynten
3. English todaydisappoint

From Middle English disapointen, disapoynten, from Middle French desapointer, desappointer (modern French désappointer). The word originally meant “to dispossess of an office”, and eventually broadened to mean “to frustrate the expectations or desires of” and “to defeat the realization or fulfillment of”. Modern nonstandard use of the original sense 6 is by analogy with appoint. By surface analysis, dis- + appoint.

First known use, by meaning

• from 1434 To dispossess (someone) of an office.