Etymology

fack

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Today it means: One of the four stomachs of a ruminating animal; rumen; paunch. Full definition →

Middle English *fak ← Old English fæc ← Proto-West Germanic *fak
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The story

  1. Proto-Indo-European · derived from*peh₂ǵ-, *paǵ-“to fasten, fix”
  2. Proto-Germanic · inherited from*faką“division, department, space”
  3. Proto-West Germanic · inherited from*fak
  4. Old English · inherited fromfæc“space of time, while, division, interval; period of five years, lustrum”
  5. Middle English · inherited from*fak
  6. English todayfack

From Middle English *fak, fec, fæc (“space, compartment”), from Old English fæc (“space of time, while, division, interval; period of five years, lustrum”), from Proto-West Germanic *fak, from Proto-Germanic *faką (“division, department, space”), from Proto-Indo-European *peh₂ǵ-, *paǵ- (“to fasten, fix”). Cognate with West Frisian fek, Dutch vak (“section, compartment”), German Fach (“compartment”), Swedish fack (“compartment, box, department”), Latin pangō (“fasten, fix”). Doublet of Fach.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.