faint

Meanings

1. 1
   adj

   Hard to see, hear, or notice; not strong or clear.

   There was a faint red light in the distance.

2. 2
   adj

   Feeling weak and dizzy, as if you might lose consciousness.

   She suddenly felt faint from the pain.

3. 3
   adj

   Very slight or small.

   There was only a faint chance of success.

Appears in

Simplified etymology

Faint came into Middle English from French faindre, initially carrying the French sense “feigned” or “simulated”; the French verb derives from Latin fingere, “to form” or “contrive.” An early sense was “cowardly,” while “hardly perceptible” developed in the mid-17th century.

From Middle English faynt, feynt (“weak; feeble”), from Old French faint, feint (“feigned; negligent; sluggish”), past participle of feindre, faindre (“to feign; sham; work negligently”), from Latin fingere (“to touch, handle, form, shape, frame, form in thought, imagine, conceive, contrive, devise, feign”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *dʰeyǵʰ- (“to mold”). Cognate with feign and fiction and more distantly dough.

Topics

External links

• Google Images
• Cambridge Dictionary
• Wiktionary