demerit: [14] A demerit may be virtually the opposite of a merit, but the word was not formed, as might be supposed, by adding the prefix de-, denoting oppositeness or reversal, to merit. Its distant ancestor was Latin demeritum, from the verb demereri ‘deserve’, where the de- prefix meant not ‘opposite of’ but ‘completely’ (as it does too in, for example, denude and despoil).
Add this de- to mereri ‘deserve’ and you get ‘deserve thoroughly’. However, at some point in the Middle Ages the prefix began to be reinterpreted as ‘opposite’, and medieval Latin demeritum came to mean ‘fault’ – the sense that reached English via French démérite.
demerit (n.)
late 14c., from Old French desmerite "blame, demerit" (Modern French démérite), from des- "not, opposite" (see dis-) + merite "merit" (see merit (n.)). Latin demereri meant "to merit, deserve," from de- in its completive sense. But Medieval Latin demeritum meant "fault." Both senses existed in the Middle French form of the word. Meaning "penalty point in school" is attested from 1862.
例文
1. They might get a demerit .
彼らは過大に記憶される可能性がある.
2.TV has its merit and demerit .
テレビには長所もあれば短所もある.
3.What do you think about your merit and demerit ？Can you give some example？
あなたはどんな長所、短所があると思いますか。それぞれいくつか例を挙げて説明してもらえませんか。
4.However,a most important feature of our browser covers the demerit of the speed performance.
しかし、最も重要な特徴はブラウズ速度の表現が悪いことを含む.（含む？意味はすべて逆です.）
5.If this matter was known by the teachers in school，I would possibly get a demerit .