When we think of the word default, we often associate it with a “preselected option”. However, this meaning is actually relatively new. In its earliest usage in English in the thirteenth century, default meant “transgression” or “sin”. Over time, it came to signify “doing something incorrectly” and eventually evolved into “failure to do something one was supposed to do” – the reason for someone defaulting on a mortgage or a sports team winning a game by default if the opposing team doesn’t show up.
In the 1960s, computer scientists needed a term for the value produced when there was no input, leading to the creation of the default setting we know today. The word itself originates from the Old French defaulte, meaning “deceit”, which is derived from the Latin prefix de- (meaning “away”) and the root fallere (meaning “to cheat” or “deceive”). This etymology also gave rise to words like false, fail, fault, and fallacy, with its ultimate origin remaining unknown.
