"Fabricate" can be traced through Middle English back to the Latin word "fabrica," meaning "workshop," especially a workshop for making things of metal. The noun "forge," meaning "a furnace or a shop where metal is shaped and worked by heating and hammering," also comes from "fabrica" and reflects the early metalworking connection. In a broader sense, "fabric" originally meant "the basic structure of something," and the verb "fabricate" came to mean "to produce, create, form, or build" out of any material, including words that are often intended to deceive.