Cado

#etymology Published: 2022-01-06

The English word deciduous means “falling off at a particular time”. When I learned this word, another English word decide popped into my mind, but they are not really related to each other.

It comes from the Latin cadō meaning “I fall”. There’s more to this origin than just deciduous, so let me list some more words, often with the part -cas-, -cad-, or -cid-.

accident, coincident, incident, occasion, case, chance

These words all have the senses related to “event” or “figuratively falling (to someone)”.

occidental

This word has a similar form (-cident-), but it means “relating to the countries of the West” This is because the Latin occidēns means west, to which the sun falls down (occidēns also means “sunset”).

casual, casualty

These words are not directly related to falling, but one definition of the word casual is “done by chance”. Casualty often refers to “a person killed due to an accident”

cascade

A small waterfall

cadence

The rise and fall of the voice

chute

Chute or parachute ultimately comes from the same origin. In French, chute is a noun meaning “fall”.

decadence

Decadence is generally the process of falling away. This word is sometimes used just to mean “self-indulgence”.