dysfunction (n.)

word-forming element meaning "bad, ill; hard, difficult; abnormal, imperfect," from Greek dys-, inseparable prefix "destroying the good sense of a word or increasing its bad sense" [Liddell & Scott], hence "bad, hard, unlucky," from PIE root (and prefix) *dus- "bad, ill, evil" (source also of Sanskrit dus-, Old Persian duš- "ill," Old English to-, Old High German zur-, Gothic tuz- "un-"), a derivative of the root *deu- (1) "to lack, be wanting" (source of Greek dein "to lack, want").

Very productive in ancient Greek, where it could attach even to proper names (such as dysparis "unhappy Paris"); its entries take up nine columns in Liddell & Scott. Among the words formed from it were some English might covet: dysouristos "fatally favorable, driven by a too-favorable wind;" dysadelphos "unhappy in one's brothers;" dysagres "unlucky in fishing;" dysantiblepos "hard to look in the face."

1530s, "one's proper work or purpose; power of acting in a specific proper way," from French fonction (16c.) and directly from Latin functionem (nominative functio) "a performance, an execution," noun of action from funct-, past-participle stem of fungi "perform, execute, discharge," from PIE *bhung- "be of use, be used" (source also of Sanskrit bhunjate "to benefit, make benefit, atone," Armenian bowcanem "to feed," Old Irish bongaid "to break, harvest"), which is perhaps related to root *bhrug- "to enjoy." Meaning "official ceremony" is from 1630s, originally in church use. Use in mathematics probably was begun by Leibnitz (1692). In reference to computer operations, 1947.