From Proto-Germanic *faką (“division, piece, part”), from Proto-Indo-European *pāǵe- (“to nail, fasten”). Cognate with Old Frisian fek, Old Saxon fak (Dutch vak), Old High German fah (German Fach), Latin pangere.
fæc n (nominative plural facu)
- a division, space
- a portion, period, or space of time; while; an interval
- period of five years, lustrum