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frustrate: frustrate: [15] Frustrate comes from Latin frūstrātus ‘disappointed, frustrated’, the past participle of a verb formed from the adverb frūstrā ‘in error, in vain, uselessly’. This was a relative of Latin fraus, which originally meant ‘injury, harm’, hence ‘deceit’ and then ‘error’ (its English descendant, fraud [14], preserves ‘deceit’). Both go back to an original Indo- European *dhreu- which denoted ‘injure’.
=> fraud
reluctant: reluctant: [17] To be reluctant about doing something is etymologically to ‘struggle against’ it. The word comes from the present participle of Latin reluctārī, a compound verb formed from the prefix re- ‘against’ and luctārī ‘struggle’. Among the first English writers to employ it was John Milton, who used it in the literal Latin sense, describing the writhing Satan: ‘a monstrous serpent on his belly prone, reluctant, but in vain’, Paradise Lost 1667. ‘Unwilling, averse’, a metaphorical extension which saw the light of day in Latin, made its debut in English at the start of the 18th century.
frustrate (v.): mid-15c., from Latin frustratus, past participle of frustrari "to deceive, disappoint, make vain," from frustra (adv.) "in vain, in error," related to fraus "injury, harm" (see fraud). Related: Frustrated; frustrating.
idleness (n.): Old English idelnes "frivolity, vanity, emptiness; vain existence;" see idle + -ness. Old English expressed the idea we attach to in vain by in idelnisse. Spenser, Scott, and others use idlesse to mean the same thing in a positive, pleasant sense.
Listerine (n.): 1879, American English, formulated by Dr. Joseph Lawrence and Jordan Wheat Lambert as a multi-purpose disinfectant and anti-septic for surgery. In 1895, after it was discovered to kill germs commonly found in the mouth, the Lambert Company started marketing it as an oral antiseptic. Named for Joseph Lord Lister (1827-1912), F.R.S., O.M., English surgeon, who revolutionized modern surgery by applying Pasteur's discoveries and performing the first ever antiseptic surgery in 1865. Lister objected in vain to the use of his name on the product. Lister (attested from 1286, an Anglian surname) is from Middle English lit(t)e "to dye" (see litmus) + fem. suffix -ster, hence, "a dyer."
lost (adj.): "defeated," c. 1300; "wasted, spent in vain," c. 1500; also "no longer to be found" (1520s), from past participle of lose. Lost Cause in reference to the Southern U.S. bid for independence is from the title of E.A. Pollard's history of the CSA and the rebellion (1866). Lost Generation in reference to the period 1914-18 first attested 1926 in Hemingway's "The Sun Also Rises," where he credits it to Gertrude Stein. Lost-and-found as the name of a department where misplaced articles are brought or sought is by 1907.
nil (n.): "nothing," 1833, from Latin nil, contraction of nihil, nihilum "nothing, not at all; in vain," from ne- "not" (see un-) + hilum "small thing, trifle," of unknown origin.
nought (n.): Old English nowiht "nothing," variant of nawiht (see naught). Meaning "zero, cipher" is from early 15c. Expression for nought "in vain" is late 13c. To come to nought is from 1590s.
someday (adv.): "at some indefinite date in the future," 1768, from some + day.
MISS SOMEDAY.
Poor Charley wooed, but wooed in vain,
From Monday until Sunday;
Still Cupid whisper'd to the swain
"You'll conquer Betsey Someday."

["The Port Folio," June 1816]
spell (v.1): early 14c., "read letter by letter, write or say the letters of;" c. 1400, "form words by means of letters," apparently a French word that merged with or displaced a native Old English one; both are from the same Germanic root, but the French word had evolved a different sense. The native word is Old English spellian "to tell, speak, discourse, talk," from Proto-Germanic *spellam (cognates: Old High German spellon "to tell," Old Norse spjalla, Gothic spillon "to talk, tell"), from PIE *spel- (2) "to say aloud, recite."

But the current senses seem to come from Anglo-French espeller, Old French espelir "mean, signify, explain, interpret," also "spell out letters, pronounce, recite," from Frankish *spellon "to tell" or some other Germanic source, ultimately identical with the native word.

Related: Spelled; spelling. In early Middle English still "to speak, preach, talk, tell," hence such expressions as hear spell "hear (something) told or talked about," spell the wind "talk in vain" (both 15c.). Meaning "form words with proper letters" is from 1580s. Spell out "explain step-by-step" is first recorded 1940, American English. Shakespeare has spell (someone) backwards "reverse the character of, explain in a contrary sense, portray with determined negativity."
unfavorable (adj.): also unfavourable, mid-15c. (implied in unfavorably), from un- (1) "not" + favorable (adj.).
"We must not indulge in unfavorable views of mankind, since by doing it we make bad men believe that they are no worse than others, and we teach the good that they are good in vain." [Walter Savage Landor, "Imaginary Conversations"]
vain (adj.): c. 1300, "devoid of real value, idle, unprofitable," from Old French vain, vein "worthless, void, invalid, feeble; conceited" (12c.), from Latin vanus "empty, void," figuratively "idle, fruitless," from PIE *wa-no-, from root *eue- "to leave, abandon, give out" (cognates: Old English wanian "to lessen," wan "deficient;" Old Norse vanta "to lack;" Latin vacare "to be empty," vastus "empty, waste;" Avestan va- "lack," Persian vang "empty, poor;" Sanskrit una- "deficient," Armenian unain "empty").

Meaning "conceited, elated with a high opinion of oneself" first recorded 1690s in English; earlier "silly, idle, foolish" (late 14c.). Phrase in vain "to no effect" (c. 1300, after Latin in vanum) preserves the original sense. Related: Vainly; vainness. Compare also vainglory.