The story
- Old French · derived frombesillier“to torment, destroy, gouge”
- Anglo-Norman · derived fromembesiler
- Middle English · inherited fromembesilen
- English todayembezzle
From Middle English embesilen, from Anglo-Norman embesiler, embesillier, embeseillier (“to steal, cause to disappear”), from em- + Old French besillier (“to torment, destroy, gouge”), of unknown origin.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.