factoid (English)
Where does "factoid" come from?
Coined by writer Norman Mailer in 1973, 'factoid' combines the word 'fact' with the suffix '-oid' to describe something that seems true only because it is repeated in the media. While 'fact' traces its deepest roots back to the Proto-Indo-European *dʰeh₁- ('to do') and the Latin 'factum', the addition of the suffix shifted the word's meaning from a simple truth to an imitation or a constructed statistic.
Full etymology tree
- factoid (English), 'An inaccurate statement or statistic believed to be true because of broad repetition, especially if cited in the media.'
- compound fact (English), 'Something actual as opposed to invented.'
- inherited fact (Old French)
- inherited factum (Latin), 'accusative supine of faciō and fīō'
- inherited factus (Latin), 'done, made, having been done or made'
- derived faciō (Latin), 'to do (particularly as a specific instance or occasion of doing)'
- inherited *fakjō (Proto-Italic), 'to make'
- inherited *dʰh₁k-yé-ti (Proto-Indo-European)
- inherited *dʰeh₁- (Proto-Indo-European), 'to do'
- inherited *dʰh₁k-yé-ti (Proto-Indo-European)
- inherited *fakjō (Proto-Italic), 'to make'
- derived faciō (Latin), 'to do (particularly as a specific instance or occasion of doing)'
- inherited factus (Latin), 'done, made, having been done or made'
- inherited factum (Latin), 'accusative supine of faciō and fīō'
- inherited fact (Old French)
- compound -oid (English), 'Resembling; having the likeness of (usually including the concept of not being the same despite the likeness, but counterexamples exist).'
- derived -ειδής (-eidḗs) (Ancient Greek), 'Forms adjectives: like, connected to, from the nature of, full of; -id'
- compound fact (English), 'Something actual as opposed to invented.'
Direct ancestors
Updated July 2026
Etymology data from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · About Miraris