- fornicate (v.)
- 1550s, from Late Latin fornicatus, past participle of fornicari (see fornication). Perhaps in some cases a back-formation from fornication. Related: Fornicated; fornicating.
- fornication (n.)
- c.1300, from Old French fornicacion (12c.), from Late Latin fornicationem (nominative fornicatio), noun of action from past participle stem of fornicari "fornicate," from Latin fornix (genitive fornicis) "brothel" (Juvenal, Horace), originally "arch, vaulted chamber" (Roman prostitutes commonly solicited from under the arches of certain buildings), from fornus "oven of arched or domed shape." Strictly, "voluntary sex between an unmarried man and an unmarried woman;" extended in the Bible to adultery.
- fornicator (n.)
- late 14c., from Late Latin fornicator, agent noun from fornicat-, stem of fornicari (see fornication).
- fornix (n.)
- 1680s, from Latin fornix "arch, vaulted chamber" (see fornication).
- forsake (v.)
- Old English forsacan "object to, decline, oppose, refuse, deny," from for- "completely" + sacan "to deny, refuse" (see sake).
- forsaken (adj.)
- mid-13c., past participle adjective from forsake. Related: Forsakenly.
- forsook
- past tense of forsake.
- forsooth (adv.)
- Old English forsoð "indeed, verily," from for-, perhaps here with intensive force (or else the whole might be "for a truth"), + soð "truth" (see sooth).
- forswear (v.)
- Old English forswerian "swear falsely," also "abandon or renounce on oath," from for- "completely" + swerian "to swear." Related: Forswore; forsworn; forswearing.
- forsworn (adj.)
- from Old English forsworenne, past participle of forswerian (see forswear).
- forsythia (n.)
- 1814, coined 1805 in Modern Latin as a genus name in honor of William Forsyth (1737-1804), Scottish horticulturalist who brought the shrub from China. The family name is from Gaelic Fearsithe "man of peace."
- fort (n.)
- mid-15c., "fortified place, stronghold," from Middle French fort, from noun use in Old French of fort (adj.) "strong, fortified" (10c.), from Latin fortis "strong, mighty, firm, steadfast," from Old Latin forctus, possibly from PIE root *bheregh- "high, elevated," with derivatives referring to hills and hill-forts (cf. Sanskrit brmhati "strengthens, elevates," Old High German berg "hill;" see barrow (n.2)).
- Fort Sumter
- military installation in South Carolina, U.S., begun in 1827, named for U.S. Revolutionary War officer and Congressman Thomas Sumter (1734-1832), "The Carolina Gamecock." The family name is attested from 1206, from Old French sometier "driver of a pack horse."
- forte (n.)
- 1640s, from French fort "strong point (of a sword blade)," also "fort," from Middle French fort (see fort). Meaning "strong point of a person" is from 1680s. Final -e- added 18c. in imitation of Italian forte "strong."
- forte (adj.)
- music instruction, "loud, loudly," from Italian forte, literally "strong," from Latin fortis "strong" (see fort).
- forth (adv.)
- Old English forð "forward, onward, further, continually," perfective of fore, from Proto-Germanic *furtha- (cf. Old Frisian, Old Saxon forth "forward, onward," Old Norse forð, Dutch voort, German fort), from PIE *prto-, from *pr-, from root *per- (1) "forward, through" (see per).
- forthcoming (adj.)
- "about to happen," 1530s; earlier was Old English forðcuman "to come forth, come to pass;" see forth + come (v.). Meaning "informative, responsive" is from 1835.
- forthright (adj.)
- Old English forðriht "direct, plain;" see forth + right. Related: Forthrightly; forthrightness.
- forthwith
- c.1200 (prep); early 14c. (adv.), from forth + with. The Old English equivalent was forð mid.
- forties (n.)
- 1843 as the years of someone's life between 40 and 49; 1840 as a decade of years in a given century. See forty. Also a designation applied in various places and times to certain oligarchies, ruling classes, or governing bodies.
It is well known that society in the island [Guernsey] is, or perhaps we ought to say, for many years was, divided into two sets, called respectively the Sixties and the Forties, the former composed of the old families and those allied to them, the latter of families of newly-acquired wealth and position. ["The Dublin Review," October 1877]
Roaring Forties are rough parts of the ocean between 40 and 50 degrees latitude. - fortieth (adj.)
- Old English feowertigoða, from feowertig (see forty) + -th. Cf. Old Norse fertugonde, Swedish fyrationde, Danish fyrretyvende.
- fortification (n.)
- early 15c., "strengthening," also "defensive earthworks, tower" (mid-15c.), from Middle French fortification "strengthening, fortification," from Late Latin fortificationem (nominative fortificatio), noun of action from past participle stem of fortificare (see fortify).
- fortify (v.)
- early 15c., "increase efficacy" (of medicine); mid-15c., "provide (a town) with walls and defenses," from Old French fortifiier (14c.) "to fortify, strengthen," from Late Latin fortificare "to strengthen, make strong," from Latin fortis "strong" (see fort) + facere "to make" (see factitious).
Sense of "to strengthen mentally or morally" is from late 15c. Meaning "add liquor or alcohol" is from 1880. Related: Fortified; fortifying. - fortissimo
- 1724, from Italian fortissimo, superlative of forte "loud, strong," from Latin fortis "strong" (see fort).
- fortitude (n.)
- early 15c., from Middle French fortitude, from Latin fortitudo "strength, force, firmness," from fortis "strong, brave" (see fort).
- fortitudinous (adj.)
- from Latin fortitudinem (nominative fortitudo; see fortitude) + -ous. Related: Fortitudinously.
- fortnight (n.)
- 17c. contraction of Middle English fourteniht, from Old English feowertyne niht, literally "fourteen nights," preserving the ancient Germanic custom of reckoning by nights, mentioned by Tacitus in "Germania" xi. Related: Fortnightly.
- Fortran (n.)
- computer programming language, 1956, from combination of elements from formula + translation.
- fortress (n.)
- early 14c., from Old French forteresse "strong place" (12c.), variant of fortelesse, from Medieval Latin fortalitia, from Latin fortis "strong" (see fort) + English -ess, a fairly uncommon suffix (duress, largess being other examples), from Latin -itia, forming nouns of quality or condition.
- fortuitous (adj.)
- 1650s, from Latin fortuitus "happening by chance, casual, accidental," from forte "by chance," ablative of fors "chance" (related to fortuna; see fortune). It means "accidental, undesigned" not "fortunate." Earlier in this sense was fortuit (late 14c.), from French. Related: Fortuitously; fortuitousness.
- fortuity (n.)
- 1747, from fortuitous + -ity.
- fortunate (adj.)
- late 14c., from Latin fortunatus "prospered, prosperous; lucky, happy," past participle of fortunare "to make prosperous," from fortuna (see fortune). Fortunate Islands "mythical abode of the blessed dead, in the Western Ocean," early 15c., translates Latin Fortunatae Insulae.
- fortunately (adv.)
- 1540s, from fortunate + -ly (2).
- fortune (n.)
- c.1300, "chance, luck as a force in human affairs," from Old French fortune "lot, good fortune, misfortune" (12c.), from Latin fortuna "chance, fate, good luck," from fors (genitive fortis) "chance, luck," possibly from PIE *bhrtu- and related to base *bher- (1) "to carry" (see infer).
Often personified as a goddess; her wheel betokens vicissitude. Sense of "owned wealth" first found in Spenser; probably it evolved from senses of "one's condition or standing in life," hence "position as determined by wealth," then "wealth" itself. Soldier of fortune first attested 1660s. Fortune 500 "most profitable American companies" is 1955, from the list published annually in "Fortune" magazine. - fortune cookie (n.)
- by 1955, said to have been invented in 1918 by David Jung, Chinese immigrant to America who established Hong Kong Noodle Co., who handed out cookies that contained uplifting messages as a promotional gimmick.
- fortuneteller (n.)
- also fortune-teller, 1580s, from fortune + teller. Verbal phrase tellen fortune is from early 15c.
- forty (n.)
- Old English feowertig, from feower "four" (see four) + tig "group of ten" (see -ty (1)). Cf. Old Saxon fiwartig, Old Frisian fiuwertich, Dutch veertig, Old High German fiorzug, German vierzig, Old Norse fjorir tigir, Gothic fidwor tigjus.
[T]he number 40 must have been used very frequently by Mesha's scribe as a round number. It is probably often used in that way in the Bible where it is remarkably frequent, esp. in reference to periods of days or years. ... How it came to be so used is not quite certain, but it may have originated, partly at any rate, in the idea that 40 years constituted a generation or the period at the end of which a man attains maturity, an idea common, it would seem, to the Greeks, the Israelites, and the Arabs. ["The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia," James Orr, ed., Chicago, 1915]
Forty winks "short sleep" is attested from 1821, In early use associated with, and perhaps coined by, eccentric English lifestyle reformer William Kitchiner M.D. (1775-1827). - forum (n.)
- mid-15c., "place of assembly in ancient Rome," from Latin forum "marketplace, open space, public place," apparently akin to foris, foras "out of doors, outside," from PIE root *dhwer- (see door). Sense of "assembly, place for public discussion" first recorded 1680s.
- forward (adv.)
- Old English forewearde "toward the front;" see fore + -ward. Adjectival sense of "early" is from 1520s; that of "presumptuous" is attested from 1560s.
- forward (v.)
- 1590s, "to help push forward," from forward (adv.). Meaning "to send (a letter, etc.) on to another destination" is from 1757. Related: Forwarded; forwarding.
- forward (n.)
- Old English, "the fore or front part" of something; see forward (adv.). The position in football so called since 1879.
- forwardness (n.)
- 1520s, from forward (adj.) + -ness. Meaning "presumptuousness" is from c.1600.
- forwards (adv.)
- Middle English, from forward + adverbial genitive -s. British English until mid-20c. preserved the distinction between forward and forwards, the latter expressing "a definite direction viewed in contrast with other directions." In American English, however, forward prevails in all senses since Webster (1832) damned forwards as "a corruption."
- Fosbury flop
- high-jumping technique, 1968, in reference to U.S. athlete Dick Fosbury (b.1947), who used it to win the 1968 Olympic gold medal.
- fosse (n.)
- early 14c. (late 13c. in place names), "ditch, trench," mid-15c., from Old French fosse "ditch, grave, dungeon" (12c.), from Latin fossa "ditch," in full fossa terra, literally "dug earth," from fem. past participle of fodere "to dig" (see fossil).
The Fosse-way (early 12c.), one of the four great Roman roads of Britain, probably was so called from the ditch on either side of it. - fossil (n.)
- 1610s, "any thing dug up;" 1650s (adj.) "obtained by digging," from French fossile (16c.), from Latin fossilis "dug up," from fossus, past participle of fodere "to dig," from PIE root *bhedh- "to dig, pierce."
Restricted noun sense of "geological remains of a plant or animal" is from 1736; slang meaning "old person" first recorded 1859. Fossil fuel (1835) preserves the earlier, broader sense. - fossiliferous (adj.)
- by 1830, from fossil + -ferous "producing, containing," from ferre "to bear" (see infer).
- fossilize (v.)
- 1794, from fossil + -ize. Figurative use from 1856. Related: Fossilized; fossilizing.
- foster (v.)
- Old English *fostrian "to supply with food, nourish, support," from fostor "food, nourishment, bringing up," from Proto-Germanic *fostrom, from root *foth-/*fod- (see food).
Meaning "to bring up a child with parental care" is from c.1200; that of "to encourage or help grow" is early 13c. of things; 1560s of feelings, ideas, etc. Old English also had the adjective meaning "in the same family but not related," in fostorfæder, etc. Related: Fostered; fostering. - fought
- past tense and past participle of fight (v.). The past participle form foughten (Old English fohten) has been archaic since 18c. but occasionally appears in the phrase foughten field.