effrontery

The story

1. Vulgar Latin · derived from*exfrontātus
2. Old French · derived fromesfronté
3. French · borrowed fromeffronterie
4. English todayeffrontery

From late 17th century French effronterie, from effronté (“shameless, insolent”), from Old French esfronté, from Vulgar Latin *exfrontātus. Compare Latin effrōns (“barefaced”), from the prefix ex- (“from”) + frōns (“forehead”) (English: front). By surface analysis, ef- + front + -er + -y.