- defalcate
- defalcate: [15] Defalcate comes from medieval Latin dēfalcāre ‘cut off’, a compound verb formed from the prefix dē- ‘off’ and falx ‘sickle’ (source of French faux ‘scythe’). At first it meant simply ‘deduct’ in English; the modern legal sense ‘embezzle’ did not develop until the 19th century.
- defalcate (v.)
- 1530s, "to lop off," from Medieval Latin defalcatus, past participle of defalcare (see defalcation). Modern scientific use dates from 1808.