Fait
/feɪt/noun
A fact or deed, used mainly in the phrase “fait accompli” for something already accomplished and therefore difficult to change.
Did you know?In “fait accompli,” the French phrase became an English expression for a completed act treated as irreversible, turning grammar into a tool of social power.
Etymological Timeline
Proto-Indo-European
PIE
*dʰeh₁-
“To put, place, or do; a foundational root behind later words for making and doing.”
Classical Latin
Latin
facere
“To make, do, or perform.”
Classical Latin
Latin
factum
“A thing done; a deed or accomplished act.”
Old French
Old French
fait
“A fact, deed, or thing done, descended from Latin factum.”
16th–17th Century
French
fait accompli
“An accomplished fact or completed deed.”
18th Century–Modern English
English
fait
“A fact or deed, chiefly preserved in the borrowed phrase “fait accompli.””