Etymograph

English

misfare

Misfare comes from Old English misfaran ‘to go astray, err, transgress’, from faran ‘to go, to travel’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *per- ‘going, passage’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*per-1‘going, passage’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*faraną2‘to go, to travel’reconstructed
  3. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*faran2‘to travel’reconstructed
  4. Old Englishc. 450–1150faran3‘to go, to travel’
  5. Old Englishc. 450–1150misfaran4‘to go astray, err, transgress’
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1596misfare4

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, Proto-Germanic *faraną
  2. 2 Wiktionary, Old English faran
  3. 3 Wiktionary, Old English misfaran
  4. 4 Wiktionary, English misfare
  5. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1596, Edmund Spenser, Book IV, Canto V: “Whereto great comfort in her sad misfare / Was…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*per-Wiktionary, Proto-Germanic *faraną‘going, passage’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*faranąWiktionary, Old English faran‘to go, to travel’reconstructed
  3. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*faranWiktionary, Old English faran‘to travel’reconstructed
  4. Old Englishc. 450–1150faranWiktionary, Old English misfaran‘to go, to travel’
  5. Old Englishc. 450–1150misfaranWiktionary, English misfare‘to go astray, err, transgress’
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1596misfareWiktionary, English misfare. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1596, Edmund Spenser, Book IV, Canto V: “Whereto great comfort in her sad misfare / Was…”

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *per- ‘going, passage’

first, before, support, per, further, price, private, report, practice, opportunity, press, far, prior, prime, port, fear, primary, pre, prize, appreciate, afford, ford, practical, forth, pregnant, privilege, precious, interpretation, praise, ferry, pirate, parade, par, porch, prix, primitive, pardon, pragmatic, privy, proton, 155 more

through Proto-Germanic *faraną ‘to go, to travel’

ferd, 7 more

Today it means

verb To go astray; to transgress, to sin.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “misfare”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entries for Proto-Germanic *faraną, Old English faran, Old English misfaran. 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 / Proto-Indo-European *per- / misfare

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