defalcation
[ˌdɛfəɫˈkeɪʃən]
Etymology
Late 15th century, from Medieval Latin dēfalcātiōnem, accusative singular of dēfalcātiō (literally “cutting off, lopping off with a sickle”), nominalization of dēfalcō, from Latin dē (“off”) + falx (“sickle, scythe, pruning hook”), from which also English falcate (“sickle-shaped”).
By surface analysis, defalcate + -ion (“the act of”).
defalcation means the act of cancelling part of a claim by deducting a smaller claim which the claimant owes to the defendant. Lexicurio rates it Rare gem — a strength score of 79 out of 100.
defalcation is pronounced [ˌdɛfəɫˈkeɪʃən].
Why “defalcation” is a great word
DEFALCATION — [Noun] The act of embezzling funds or, in legal contexts, the lawful deduction of a debt owed from a sum being claimed. From Medieval Latin dēfalcātiōnem, accusative of dēfalcātiō (literally "cutting off"), from dēfalcō, from Latin dē ("off") + falx ("sickle, scythe"). First attested in English in the late 15th century. Unlike embezzlement, which is naked fraud, or appropriation, a neutral setting aside, defalcation is the single, sharp blade for both the graft and the legitimate offset—the silent siphon in a ledger, the missing stack from a strongbox, the precise reduction of a final check. It is the cold geometry of subtraction, where loss arrives not with a crash but with the clean sound of a scythe parting what was whole.
noun
- The act of cancelling part of a claim by deducting a smaller claim which the claimant owes to the defendant.
- Embezzlement.“Granting that Mr. Ireland had gone into his office at ten minutes to ten o'clock at night for the purpose of extracting £5000 worth of notes and gold from the bank safe, whilst giving the theft the appearance of a night burglary; […] why should he, at nine o'clock the following morning, fall in a dead faint and get cerebral congestion at sight of a defalcation he knew had occurred?”