discomfit
The origin and history of discomfit.
Etymology
Discomfit comes from Middle English discomfiten, taken from Old French desconfit, the past participle of desconfire, meaning to undo or destroy. That French word is built from Latin roots meaning completely and to make or finish, ultimately from Latin conficio. Its present-day sense of embarrassing someone arose later, after people confused it with the unrelated word discomfort.
