C15: from Old French farder to use facial cosmetics, of Germanic origin
fard in American English
(fɑːrd)
archaic
noun
1.
facial cosmetics
transitive verb
2.
to apply cosmetics to (the face)
Word origin
[1400–50; late ME ‹ MF, OF: n. deriv. of farder to apply makeup, prob. ‹ Old Low Franconian *farwiđon to dye, color (cf. OHG farwjan, G färben)]This word is first recorded in the period 1400–50. Other words that entered Englishat around the same time include: gallery, oblique, peg, transit, union