fraudulence

Etymology

Came into English from Old French fraudulence, which developed from Latin fraudulentia ("deceitfulness, disposition to defraud; fraudulence"), itself from fraudulentus ("deceitful, fraudulent") plus -ia (a suffix forming abstract nouns). Fraudulentus in turn comes from fraus ("deceit, fraud") (from Proto-Indo-European *dʰrew-, "to mislead") plus -ulentus ("abounding in, full of").