Etymology, Origin And Meaning Of Deciduous By Etymonline

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Origin and history of deciduous

deciduous(adj.)

1680s, with reference to leaves, petals, teeth, etc., "falling off at a certain stage of existence," from Latin deciduus "that which falls down," from decidere "to fall off, fall down," from de "down" (see de-) + combining form of cadere "to fall," from PIE root *kad- "to fall." Of trees and bushes, "losing foliage every year" (opposed to evergreen), from 1778. The Latin adjective was used of shooting stars and testicles, but it seems not to have been used of trees or leaves (the phenomenon in Italy seems to be restricted to the mountain regions). Related: Deciduousness.

also from 1680s

Entries linking to deciduous

de-

active word-forming element in English and in many verbs inherited from French and Latin, from Latin de "down, down from, from, off; concerning" (see de), also used as a prefix in Latin, usually meaning "down, off, away, from among, down from," but also "down to the bottom, totally" hence "completely" (intensive or completive), which is its sense in many English words.

As a Latin prefix it also had the function of undoing or reversing a verb's action, and hence it came to be used as a pure privative — "not, do the opposite of, undo" — which is its primary function as a living prefix in English, as in defrost (1895), defuse (1943), de-escalate (1964), etc. In some cases, a reduced form of dis-.

*kad-

Proto-Indo-European root meaning "to fall."

It might form all or part of: accident; cadaver; cadence; caducous; cascade; case (n.1); casual; casualty; casuist; casus belli; chance; cheat; chute (n.1); coincide; decadence; decay; deciduous; escheat; incident; occasion; occident; recidivist.

It might also be the source of: Sanskrit sad- "to fall down;" Latin casus "a chance, occasion, opportunity; accident, mishap," literally "a falling," cadere "to fall, sink, settle down, decline, perish;" Armenian chacnum "to fall, become low;" perhaps also Middle Irish casar "hail, lightning."

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Trends of deciduous

adapted from books.google.com/ngrams/ with a 7-year moving average; ngrams are probably unreliable.

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larchtype of coniferous tree with needle-shaped deciduous leaves, 1548, (William Turner, "Names of Herbes"), from German Lärche...almondkernel of the fruit of the almond tree, c. 1300, from Old French almande, amande, earlier alemondle "almond," from Vulgar Latin *amendla, *amandula, from Latin amygdala (plural), from Greek amygdalos "an almond tree," a word of unknown origin, perhaps from Semitic. Late Old Engliboondoggle"wasteful expenditure," especially by the government under guise of public good, April 1935, American English; earlier it was a name for a kind of braided leather lanyard made by Boy Scouts and worn by them around the neck or hat. In this sense it is attested from 1930, and accorragamuffinmid-14c., "demon;" late 14c., "a ragged lout," also in surnames (Isabella Ragamuffyn, 1344), from Middle English raggi "ragged" ("rag-y"?) + "fanciful ending" [OED], or else perhaps second the element is Middle Dutch muffe "mitten." Or, as Johnson has it, "From rag and I know notmean"intend, have in mind;" Middle English mēnen, from Old English mænan "intend (to do something), plan; indicate (a certain object) or convey (a certain sense) when using a word," from Proto-West Germanic *menjojanan (source also of Old Frisian mena "to signify," Old Saxon menian "essencelate 14c., essencia (respelled late 15c. on French model), from Latin essentia "being, essence," abstract noun formed (to translate Greek ousia "being, essence") from essent-, present participle stem of esse "to be," from PIE root *es- "to be." Originally "substance of the Trinitoasis"fertile spot in a desert, where there is a spring or well and more or less vegetation," originally in reference to the Libyan desert, 1610s, from French oasis (18c.) and directly from Late Latin oasis, from Greek oasis, probably from Hamitic (compare Coptic wahe, ouahe "oasis," myth1830, from French mythe (1818) and directly from Modern Latin mythus, from Greek mythos "speech, thought, word, discourse, conversation; story, saga, tale, myth, anything delivered by word of mouth," a word of unknown origin. Beekes finds it "quite possibly Pre-Greek." Myths areevilOld English yfel (Kentish evel) "bad, vicious, ill, wicked," from Proto-Germanic *ubilaz (source also of Old Saxon ubil, Old Frisian and Middle Dutch evel, Dutch euvel, Old High German ubil, German übel, Gothic ubils), from PIE *upelo-, from root *wap- "bad, evil" (source also ofpredicamentearly 15c., in philosophy, "category, class; one of Aristotle's 10 categories," from Medieval Latin predicamentum, from Late Latin praedicamentum "quality, category, something predicted, that which is asserted," from Latin praedicatus, past participle of praedicare "assert, procl

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‘cite’Page URL:https://www.etymonline.com/word/deciduousCopyHTML Link:<a href="https://www.etymonline.com/word/deciduous">Etymology of deciduous by etymonline</a>CopyAPA Style:Harper, D. (n.d.). Etymology of deciduous. Online Etymology Dictionary. Retrieved January 2, 2026, from https://www.etymonline.com/word/deciduousCopyChicago Style:Harper Douglas, "Etymology of deciduous," Online Etymology Dictionary, accessed January 2, 2026, https://www.etymonline.com/word/deciduous.CopyMLA Style:Harper, Douglas. "Etymology of deciduous." Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com/word/deciduous. Accessed 2 January, 2026.CopyIEEE Style:D. Harper. "Etymology of deciduous." Online Etymology Dictionary. https://www.etymonline.com/word/deciduous (accessed January 2, 2026).CopyRemove AdsAdvertisement

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TrendingDictionary entries near deciduous

• decession
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• deciduous
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