English
default
Default comes from Old French defaute ‘fault, defect, failure, culpability, lack’, and goes back to Latin fallo ‘deceive, cheat, escape notice of’.
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEfallo1‘deceive, cheat, escape notice of’
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400defaute1‘fault, defect, failure, culpability, lack’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500defaut1
- Englishearliest quotation 1728default1
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
- 1 Wiktionary, English default
- Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1728, Alexander Pope, (please specify the page): “regardless of our merit or default”.
Earlier history uncertain. See Wiktionary.
Lineage
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEfalloWiktionary, English default‘deceive, cheat, escape notice of’
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400defauteWiktionary, English default‘fault, defect, failure, culpability, lack’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500defautWiktionary, English default
- Englishearliest quotation 1728defaultWiktionary, English default. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1728, Alexander Pope, (please specify the page): “regardless of our merit or default”
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *(s)gʷʰh₂el- ‘to stumble’
through Proto-Italic *falsō
fail, falsely, falsetto, 6 more
through Latin fallo ‘deceive, cheat, escape notice of’
failure, false, faux, fallacy, fallacious, fallible, falsify, falsity, 8 more
Today it means
noun The condition of failing to meet an obligation.
Sources
Sources: Wiktionary, “default”. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.
Etymograph / Latin fallo / default