英语词源字典 - 在线词源网站

factory (n.)[factory 词源字典]: 1550s, "estate manager's office," from Middle French factorie (15c.), from Late Latin factorium "office for agents ('factors')," also "oil press, mill," from Latin factor "doer, maker" (see factor (n.)). From 1580s as "establishment of merchants and factors in a foreign place." Sense of "building for making goods" is first attested 1610s. Factory farm attested from 1890.[factory etymology, factory origin, 英语词源]
factotum (n.): "one who does all kinds of work for another," 1560s, from Medieval Latin factotum "do everything," from fac, imperative of facere "to make, do" (see factitious) + totum "all" (see total (adj.)).
factual (adj.): 1834, formed from fact on model of actual. Related: Factually.
faculties (n.): "powers or properties of one's mind," also "physical functions," early 16c., plural of faculty.
faculty (n.): late 14c., "ability, opportunity, means, resources," from Old French faculte "skill, accomplishment, learning" (14c., Modern French faculté) and directly from Latin facultatem (nominative facultas) "power, ability, capability, opportunity; sufficient number, abundance, wealth," from *facli-tat-s, from facilis (see facile).

Academic sense "branch of knowledge" (late 14c.) was in Old French and probably was the earliest in English (it is attested in Anglo-Latin from late 12c.), on notion of "ability in knowledge" or "body of persons on whom are conferred specific professional powers." Originally each department was a faculty; the use in reference to the whole teaching staff of an entire college dates from 1767. Related: Facultative. The Latin words facultas and facilitas "were originally different forms of the same word; the latter, owing to its more obvious relationship to the adj., retained the primary sense of 'easiness', which the former had ceased to have before the classical period." [OED]
fad (n.): 1834, "hobby, pet project" (adjective faddy is from 1824), of uncertain origin. Perhaps shortened from fiddle-faddle. Or perhaps from French fadaise "trifle, nonsense," which is ultimately from Latin fatuus "stupid." From 1881 as "fashion, craze," or as Century Dictionary has it, "trivial fancy adopted and pursued for a time with irrational zeal."
faddish (adj.): 1855, from fad + -ish. Related: Faddishness.
faddle (v.): "to make much of a child," 1680s. Related: Faddled; faddling.
fade (v.): early 14c., "lose brightness, grow pale," from Old French fader "become weak, wilt, wither," from fade (adj.) "pale, weak; insipid, tasteless" (12c.), probably from Vulgar Latin *fatidus, which is said to be a blending of Latin fatuus "silly, tasteless" and vapidus "flat, flavorless." Related: Faded; fading. Of sounds, by 1819. Transitive sense from 1590s; in cinematography from 1918.
Adieu! adieu! thy plaintive anthem fades
Past the near meadows, over the still stream,
Up the hill-side; and now 'tis buried deep
In the next valley-glades:
Was it a vision, or a waking dream?
Fled is that music:--Do I wake or sleep?

[Keats, "Ode to a Nightingale"]
fade (n.): early 14c., "loss of freshness or vigor," from fade (adj.), c. 1300, " lacking in brilliance; pale, discolored, dull," from Old French fade (see fade (v.)). As a type of tapering hairstyle from 1988 (fade-out style is in a 1985 "Ebony" article on men's haircuts).
fade-out (n.): 1918, from verbal phrase, from fade (v.) + out (adv.).
fader (n.): sound control device, 1931, agent noun from fade (v.).
fado (n.): popular music style of Portugal, 1902, from Latin fatum "fate, destiny" (see fate (n.)). Because the songs tell the fates of their subjects.
fadoodle (n.): "something worthless or foolish," 1660s.
faecal (adj.): see fecal.
faeces (n.): see feces.
faerie (n.): supernatural kingdom, "Elfland," c. 1300, from Old French fairie; see fairy.
faery: see faerie.
fag (v.1): "to droop, decline in strength, become weary" (intransitive), 1520s, of uncertain origin; OED is content with the "common view" that it is an alteration of flag (v.) in its sense of "droop, go limp." Transitive sense of "to make (someone or something) fatigued, tire by labor" is first attested 1826. Related: Fagged; fagging.
fag (n.1): British slang for "cigarette" (originally, especially, the butt of a smoked cigarette), 1888, probably from fag "loose piece, last remnant of cloth" (late 14c., as in fag-end "extreme end, loose piece," 1610s), which perhaps is related to fag (v.), which could make it a variant of flag (v.).