No, it’s not a rude word! Well, not quite; it’s a polite word for something not very nice.
Defalcate
means to deduct a part of, or to embezzle money held on trust. The “falc” bit comes from the Latin word for
Falx, falcis
a sickle or small scythe, falx – falcis, with the sense of cutting off. The noun is defalcation, meaning “a diminution; a defection*; a misappropriation of funds entrusted to someone; the amount misappropriated”. And a defalcator is the perpetrator of this crime against society.
*A defection, in this context, is “a failure to carry out a duty”, not “an act of desertion”; a defect of character is no doubt required.
Interestingly, falcate is not the opposite of defalcate, though it has the same derivation. It’s an adjective meaning sickle-shaped or bent like a sickle, and something falcate can also be described as falcated, falciform or falculate. The noun is falcation, which could mean either “a sickle-shaped thing” (“the falcations on the front of the building”, maybe?) or “the technique of creating falcate things”. Or both. Frustratingly, Chambers Dictionary gives no examples. If you know, I’d love to hear from you; you can comment below.
A falcula is a falcate, or sickle-shaped, claw, so I thought there might be a connection between [de]falcate and falcon, but apparently not. Falcon came into English back in Norman times through the French word faucon. (Slight digression here: that means the proper English pronunciation of falcon is with a long “au” sound as in “saunter”, not a short “a” as in “cat”.) Faucon is derived from the Latin word for falcon, which is falco – falconis. So says the dictionary, making no connection between falco and falx. It seems to me obvious that there should be one, though I realise the obvious can be a trap: Latin-based languages are full of “false friends” in English, words that sound the same but have different meanings. Again, if you know the answer (any classicists out there?) I’d love to know!
And of course, a falcon is very skilled at removing little bits of meat with its falcate beak from its prey, which it holds in its falculae (falculas?). Not so much defalcation – more falconisation. OK, OK, I’m stopping!
Funiculi, funicula…
See you tomorrow.
If you’d like to sign up to my newsletter, and get a free copy of my e-book “27 Writing Mistakes that could be costing YOU money, and how to avoid them”, please fill in the boxes below. Thank you!