entry
defeat
/dɪˈfiːt/to overcome, frustrate, or nullify
From Latin dis- (apart) + Latin fac(e) (to do).
from Latin dis- "un-, not" (see dis- ) + facere "to do, perform,"
from Old French desfait , past participle of desfaire "to undo,"
from Anglo-French defeter
+1 more sourcefrom PIE root *dhe- "to set, put."
from Vulgar Latin *diffacere "undo, destroy,"
from Vulgar Latin *diffacere "undo, destroy,"
from Middle English defeten
Word Ancestry
from Latin dis- "un-, not" (see dis- ) + facere "to do, perform,"
from Old French desfait , past participle of desfaire "to undo,"
from Anglo-French defeter
+1 more sourcefrom PIE root *dhe- "to set, put."
from Vulgar Latin *diffacere "undo, destroy,"
from Vulgar Latin *diffacere "undo, destroy,"
from Middle English defeten
What a sneaky little word this is: it began life as a verb of undoing, not a sports result. In late-1300s English, defeten could mean to ruin someone, stop their plans, or leave them emotionally wrecked — the verbal equivalent of pulling a tablecloth out from under a feast. One half of the machine is dis-, the old Latin prefix for pulling things apart; the other is facere, the everyday powerhouse behind fact, factory, artifact, and benefit. Put them together and you get the deliciously literal idea of 'un-making' — which is why defeat sits right beside defect and deficient, all those words that smell faintly of something broken or missing. By the 1560s, the word had reached the battlefield, where losing a contest was just another way of being made undone; tomorrow, remember it as a kind of linguistic demolition crew in a cloak.
The Story
What a sneaky little word this is: it began life as a verb of undoing, not a sports result. In late-1300s English, defeten could mean to ruin someone, stop their plans, or leave them emotionally wrecked — the verbal equivalent of pulling a tablecloth out from under a feast. One half of the machine is dis-, the old Latin prefix for pulling things apart; the other is facere, the everyday powerhouse behind fact, factory, artifact, and benefit. Put them together and you get the deliciously literal idea of 'un-making' — which is why defeat sits right beside defect and deficient, all those words that smell faintly of something broken or missing. By the 1560s, the word had reached the battlefield, where losing a contest was just another way of being made undone; tomorrow, remember it as a kind of linguistic demolition crew in a cloak.
Kin & Kindred
From 'dis-'·apart, away; reversal or negation
Derived Terms
English words from this root
From 'fac(e)'·to do, make
Derived Terms
English words from this root