Forfeit
/ˈfɔːr.fɪt/noun
Something lost or surrendered as a penalty for breaking a rule or failing to fulfill an obligation.
Did you know?The word entered English through Anglo-French legal language, where it meant property or rights lost because someone broke an oath, debt, or law—language that turns punishment into a kind of verbal confiscation.
Etymological Timeline
Proto-Germanic
PGmc
*for-
“away, completely”
Old French
OF
forfet
“offense, crime, penalty; something forfeited”
Anglo-French
AF
forfet
“a penalty or loss incurred by wrongdoing”
Middle English
English
forfeten
“to lose or be deprived of by penalty”
Modern English
English
forfeit
“something surrendered or lost as a penalty”