fault: [13] Like fail, fallacy, fallible, and false, fault comes ultimately from Latin fallere ‘deceive, fail’. Its past participle formed the basis of a Vulgar Latin noun *fallita ‘failing, falling short’, which passed into English via Old French faute in the sense ‘lack, deficiency’. The notion of ‘moral culpability’ does not seem to have become incorporated into the word until the late 14th century. => fail, fallacy, fallible, false
fault (n.)
late 13c., faute, "deficiency," from Old French faute, earlier falte, "opening, gap; failure, flaw, blemish; lack, deficiency" (12c.), from Vulgar Latin *fallita "a shortcoming, falling," from Latin falsus "deceptive, feigned, spurious," past participle of fallere "deceive, disappoint" (see fail (v.)).
The -l- was restored 16c., probably in imitation of Latin, but the letter was silent until 18c. Sense of "physical defect" is from early 14c.; that of "moral culpability" (milder than sin or vice, but more serious than an error) is first recorded late 14c. Geological sense is from 1796. The use in tennis (c. 1600) is closer to the etymological sense.
fault (v.)
"find fault with," mid-15c. from fault (n.). Earlier it was used in an intransitive sense of "be deficient" (late 14c., Scottish). Related: Faulted; faulter; faulting.
雙語例句
1. The aircraft made an unscheduled landing after developing an electrical fault.
飛機(jī)由于發(fā)生電力故障而作了臨時(shí)降落。
來自柯林斯例句
2. He could never accept that he had been at fault.
他怎么也無法承認(rèn)是他的錯(cuò)。
來自柯林斯例句
3. I was disappointed whenever the cook found fault with my work.
每當(dāng)廚師挑剔我干的活兒時(shí)，我都非常沮喪。
來自柯林斯例句
4. It is hard to fault the way he runs his own operation.
他經(jīng)營自己公司的方式無可指摘。
來自柯林斯例句
5. The data that's being used to fault American education is highly politicized.