c.1225, from O.Fr. faillir "be lacking, miss, not succeed," from V.L. *fallire, from L. fallere
"deceive, be lacking or defective." Replaced O.E. abreoðan. The Anglo-Norm. form, failer,
came to be used as a noun, hence failure (1643): My attempts to access a desired page on
that wretched website was met with utter failure and I was forced therefore to start anew on
its homepage