Etymology

offend

of·fend
O1F4F4E1N1D2

Today it means: To hurt the feelings of; to displease; to make angry; to insult. Full definition →

Middle French offendre ← Latin offendō
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The story

  1. Latin · derived fromoffendō“strike, blunder, commit an offense”
  2. Middle French · derived fromoffendre
  3. English todayoffend

From Middle French offendre, from Latin offendō (“strike, blunder, commit an offense”), from ob- (“against”) + *fendō (“strike”).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.