deficientadj.

deficientdeficient: [16] Deficient was acquired from Latin dēficient-, the present participial stem of dēficere ‘undo, fail, leave, be lacking’, a compound verb formed from the prefix dē- ‘away’ and facere ‘do, make’ (a parallel formation lies behind English defeat). The past participial stem of the Latin verb, dēfect-, produced English defect [15], while its third person present singular dēficit was borrowed by English as deficit.=> defeat, defect, deficitdeficient (adj.)1580s, from Latin deficientem (nominative deficiens), present participle of deficere "to desert, revolt, fail," from de- "down, away" (see de-) + facere "to do, perform" (see factitious).