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An etymological note: fact comes from a term meaning simply "something done", as etymonline says.

fact (n.)

1530s, "action, anything done," especially "evil deed," from Latin factum "an event, occurrence, deed, achievement," in Medieval Latin also "state, condition, circumstance," literally "thing done" (source also of Old French fait, Spanish hecho, Italian fatto), noun use of neuter of factus, past participle of facere "to do" (from PIE root *dhe- "to set, put"). Main modern sense of "thing known to be true" is from 1630s, from notion of "something that has actually occurred."

A similar phenomenon has occured in Spanish, where two important synonyms for the English "fact" are hecho and dato, the latter which is immediately related to "datum" in English (see etymologias.dechile.net). This, because Latin facta is related to when [a letter] was made, and datum is related to when it was given, which, by the way, is another synonym for "fact" in English...

So the sense of a "changeable datum" has departed significantly from it's etymological origin, as indeed many words have. When once you have given something to someone, you cannot change the fact that it is given, even if you take it back; but a piece of information, once separated from its source, can be changed.

Don't jettison the word, but use it with care.

An etymological note: fact comes from a term meaning simply "something done", as etymonline says.

fact (n.)

1530s, "action, anything done," especially "evil deed," from Latin factum "an event, occurrence, deed, achievement," in Medieval Latin also "state, condition, circumstance," literally "thing done" (source also of Old French fait, Spanish hecho, Italian fatto), noun use of neuter of factus, past participle of facere "to do" (from PIE root *dhe- "to set, put"). Main modern sense of "thing known to be true" is from 1630s, from notion of "something that has actually occurred."

A similar phenomenon has occured in Spanish, where two important synonyms for the English "fact" are hecho and dato, the latter which is immediately related to "datum" in English (see etymologias.dechile.net). This, because Latin facta is related to when [a letter] was made, and datum is related to when it was given, which, by the way, is another synonym for "fact" in English...

So the sense of a "changeable datum" has departed significantly from it's etymological origin, as indeed many words have. When once you have given something to someone, you cannot change the fact that it is given, even if you take it back; but a piece of information, once separated from its source, can be changed.

Don't jettison the word, but use it with care.

Etymology aside, here's the word, in the wild:

And as Felsenthal noted, it is one that will be put to the test. “I don’t think there’s ever been a president and vice president to take office in a moment like this, where we don’t just disagree on issues,” he said. “We disagree on basic facts.” (Washington Post, 10-12-2020)

An etymological note: fact comes from a term meaning simply "something done", as etymonline says.

fact (n.)

1530s, "action, anything done," especially "evil deed," from Latin factum "an event, occurrence, deed, achievement," in Medieval Latin also "state, condition, circumstance," literally "thing done" (source also of Old French fait, Spanish hecho, Italian fatto), noun use of neuter of factus, past participle of facere "to do" (from PIE root *dhe- "to set, put"). Main modern sense of "thing known to be true" is from 1630s, from notion of "something that has actually occurred."

A similar phenomenon has occured in Spanish, where two important synonyms for the English "fact" are hecho and dato, the latter which is immediately related to "datum" in English (see etymologias.dechile.net). This, because Latin facta is related to when [a letter] was made, and datum is related to when it was given, which is another synonym for fact in English...

So the sense of a "changeable datum" has departed significantly from it's etymological origin, as indeed many words have. When once you have given something to someone, you cannot change the fact that it is given, even if you take it back; but a piece of information, once separated from its source, can be changed.

An etymological note: fact comes from a term meaning simply "something done", as etymonline says.

fact (n.)

1530s, "action, anything done," especially "evil deed," from Latin factum "an event, occurrence, deed, achievement," in Medieval Latin also "state, condition, circumstance," literally "thing done" (source also of Old French fait, Spanish hecho, Italian fatto), noun use of neuter of factus, past participle of facere "to do" (from PIE root *dhe- "to set, put"). Main modern sense of "thing known to be true" is from 1630s, from notion of "something that has actually occurred."

A similar phenomenon has occured in Spanish, where two important synonyms for the English "fact" are hecho and dato, the latter which is immediately related to "datum" in English (see etymologias.dechile.net). This, because Latin facta is related to when [a letter] was made, and datum is related to when it was given, which, by the way, is another synonym for "fact" in English...

So the sense of a "changeable datum" has departed significantly from it's etymological origin, as indeed many words have. When once you have given something to someone, you cannot change the fact that it is given, even if you take it back; but a piece of information, once separated from its source, can be changed.

Don't jettison the word, but use it with care.

An etymological note: fact comes from a term meaning simply "something done", as etymonline says.

fact (n.)

1530s, "action, anything done," especially "evil deed," from Latin factum "an event, occurrence, deed, achievement," in Medieval Latin also "state, condition, circumstance," literally "thing done" (source also of Old French fait, Spanish hecho, Italian fatto), noun use of neuter of factus, past participle of facere "to do" (from PIE root *dhe- "to set, put"). Main modern sense of "thing known to be true" is from 1630s, from notion of "something that has actually occurred."

A similar phenomenon has occured in Spanish, where two important synonyms for the English "fact" are hecho and dato, the latter which is immediately related to "datum" in English (see etymologias.dechile.net). This, because Latin facta is related to when [a letter] was made, and datum is related to when it was given, which is another synonym for fact in English...

So the sense of a "changeable datum" has departed significantly from it's etymological origin.

An etymological note: fact comes from a term meaning simply "something done", as etymonline says.

fact (n.)

1530s, "action, anything done," especially "evil deed," from Latin factum "an event, occurrence, deed, achievement," in Medieval Latin also "state, condition, circumstance," literally "thing done" (source also of Old French fait, Spanish hecho, Italian fatto), noun use of neuter of factus, past participle of facere "to do" (from PIE root *dhe- "to set, put"). Main modern sense of "thing known to be true" is from 1630s, from notion of "something that has actually occurred."

A similar phenomenon has occured in Spanish, where two important synonyms for the English "fact" are hecho and dato, the latter which is immediately related to "datum" in English (see etymologias.dechile.net). This, because Latin facta is related to when [a letter] was made, and datum is related to when it was given, which is another synonym for fact in English...

So the sense of a "changeable datum" has departed significantly from it's etymological origin, as indeed many words have. When once you have given something to someone, you cannot change the fact that it is given, even if you take it back; but a piece of information, once separated from its source, can be changed.