Etymology

dysfunction

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Today it means: A failure to function in an expected or complete manner. Usually refers to a disorder in a bodily organ (e.g. erectile dysfunction), a mental disorder, or the improper behavior of a social group. Full definition →

English function ← Middle French function ← Old French fonction
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The story

  1. Proto-Indo-European*dews-?
  2. Proto-Indo-European*dus-
  3. Proto-Hellenic*dus-
  4. Ancient Greekδυσ- (dus-)
  5. New Latindys-
  6. Englishdys-
  7. Proto-Indo-European*bʰewg-
  8. Proto-Indo-European*bʰunégti
  9. Proto-Italic*fungōr
  10. Latinfungor
  11. Latinfūnctiō
  12. Old Frenchfonction
  13. Middle Frenchfunction
  14. Englishfunction
  15. English todaydysfunction

From dys- + function.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.