fault: [13] Like fail, fallacy, fallible, and false, fault comes ultimately from Latin fallere ‘deceive, fail’. Its past participle formed the basis of a Vulgar Latin noun *fallita ‘failing, falling short’, which passed into English via Old French faute in the sense ‘lack, deficiency’. The notion of ‘moral culpability’ does not seem to have become incorporated into the word until the late 14th century. => fail, fallacy, fallible, false
fault (n.)
late 13c., faute, "deficiency," from Old French faute, earlier falte, "opening, gap; failure, flaw, blemish; lack, deficiency" (12c.), from Vulgar Latin *fallita "a shortcoming, falling," from Latin falsus "deceptive, feigned, spurious," past participle of fallere "deceive, disappoint" (see fail (v.)).
The -l- was restored 16c., probably in imitation of Latin, but the letter was silent until 18c. Sense of "physical defect" is from early 14c.; that of "moral culpability" (milder than sin or vice, but more serious than an error) is first recorded late 14c. Geological sense is from 1796. The use in tennis (c. 1600) is closer to the etymological sense.
fault (v.)
"find fault with," mid-15c. from fault (n.). Earlier it was used in an intransitive sense of "be deficient" (late 14c., Scottish). Related: Faulted; faulter; faulting.
实用例句
1. The aircraft made an unscheduled landing after developing an electrical fault.
飞机由于发生电力故障而作了临时降落。
来自柯林斯例句
2. He could never accept that he had been at fault.
他怎么也无法承认是他的错。
来自柯林斯例句
3. I was disappointed whenever the cook found fault with my work.
每当厨师挑剔我干的活儿时，我都非常沮丧。
来自柯林斯例句
4. It is hard to fault the way he runs his own operation.
他经营自己公司的方式无可指摘。
来自柯林斯例句
5. The data that's being used to fault American education is highly politicized.