'refutation' originates from Latin, specifically the word 'refutatio' from 'refutare,' where 're-' meant 'back' and 'futare' (related to 'fugare') meant 'to drive away or put to flight'.

'refutation' changed from Medieval Latin 'refutatio' and Old French 'refutacion' and eventually became the modern English word 'refutation' via Middle English.

Initially it meant 'the act of driving back or repelling'; over time it evolved into the current sense of 'an act of proving an argument or claim to be false'.