fail

The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology | 1996 | 382 words | Copyright

fail2 be wanting or insufficient; lose power; fall or come short, be in default. XIII. — (O)F. faillir be wanting :- Rom. *fallīre, for L. fallere deceive, used in the sense ‘disappoint expectation, be wanting or defective’.
So failure XVII. orig. failer — AN. (leg.) failer, for OF. faillir, inf. used as sb. (see -ER5); assim. to the suffix -URE.

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T. F. HOAD. "fail." The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology. 1996. Encyclopedia.com. 29 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>.

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T. F. HOAD. "fail." The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology. 1996. Retrieved May 29, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O27-fail1.html

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