Forfeits

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. Suffers loss of a right, property, or privilege as a penalty ; fails to take part or withdraws from a contest or game, resulting in loss by default
2. Undergoes loss of something valuable due to a rule violation or failure to comply ; does not compete or complete a match, causing the opponent to win automatically
3. Has something taken away because of breaking laws or rules ; gives up a chance to proceed in an event by not showing up or quitting

Etymology: "Forfeits" is the third-person singular present form of the verb "forfeit," so the story belongs to "forfeit" itself. Its root is a Latin phrase meaning "outside the deed": Medieval Latin "foris factum" combined "foris," outside, with "factum," a deed. Something done outside the law was a transgression, and that was the original sense. Reaching English around 1300 as "forfait," the word first named the crime itself, and the penalty came later. The meaning then flipped in an instructive way. In the 15th century, the word shifted from the wrong-doing to the punishment that wrong-doing brought, so that losing something became its main sense. Over time the idea of forfeiting broadened from legal penalties to sport, where a player who fails to show up or refuses to play loses the contest by default, and to everyday life, where people lose a deposit or a privilege through breaking a condition.