Etymology: Partly < defame v., and partly < Anglo-Norman and Middle French diffame disgrace, dishonour, disrepute (first half of the 14th cent.; c1280 in Old French as disfame ), defamation, slander (first half of the 14th cent. or earlier) < diffamer defame v. Compare slightly earlier defamation n. Compare also defamy n. and the foreign-language forms cited at that entry.

Etymology: < (i) Anglo-Norman defamer, defamir, Anglo-Norman and Middle French diffamer, Middle French (rare) deffamer (compare Old French defamer , diffamer ; French diffamer ) to proclaim, declare, make widely known, to denigrate, disparage, slander (a person), to accuse (a person) of an offence, to cause (a person) to be dishonoured or disgraced (all 12th cent. in Old French), to spread the fame of (a person) (1212), and its etymon (ii) classical Latin diffāmāre (in post-classical Latin also defamare; compare de- prefix) to spread the news of, publish abroad, to slander, in post-classical Latin also to disgrace, dishonour (6th cent. as defamare , c1400 in a British source as diffamare ), to accuse (frequently from 13th cent. in British sources) < dif- dis- prefix + fāma fame n.¹Compare Old Occitan diffamar , Spanish diffamar (c1250; first half of the 13th cent. as †defamar ), Portuguese difamar (15th cent.), (now archaic) defamar (14th cent.), Italian diffamare (a1308), all earliest in sense ‘to disparage, denigrate (a person)’. With post-classical Latin defamare , compare classical Latin dēfāmātus dishonoured, infamous, and dēfāmis shameful (both 2nd cent. a.d.). In sense 1 chiefly translating post-classical Latin diffamare in the Vulgate.