Meaning

verb fail to do something; leave something undone

verb be unsuccessful

verb disappoint, prove undependable to; abandon, forsake

originEtymology tree Classical Latin fallere Vulgar Latin *fallīre Old French falirbor. Middle English failen English fail Inherited from Middle English failen, borrowed from Old French falir, from Vulgar Latin *fallire, alteration of Latin fallere (“to deceive, disappoint”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰāl- (“to lie, deceive”) or Proto-Indo-European *(s)gʷʰh₂el- (“to stumble”). Compare Alemannic German…

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 3.0