Wordwyrt

deciduous

/ˌdɪˈsɪdʒuːəs/dih-SIH-joo-uhs
/ˌdɪˈsɪdʒuəs/dih-SIH-joo-uhs

Meaningto fall down

Common meaning: shedding leaves each year

‘down, away, from’ + ‘to fall’ → deciduous

Journey through time

  • de — Latin de- “down, away, from” (path traced)
  • ciduous — Latin cadō, cecidī, cāsum “to fall” (path traced)

Parts join in Latin as decidere.

  1. Latinde- + cadere‘down, away, from + to fall’source
  2. Latindecidere‘to fall down’source
  3. Latindeciduus‘that falls down’source
  4. Englishmeaning shiftsthat falls down → shedding leaves each yeardeciduous‘shedding leaves each year’ · today

Sources & notes

Meaning: “Meaning” is the sense that emerges from the word’s roots; “Common meaning” is today’s everyday sense. Both written by us.

Pronunciation

  • UK IPA: converted from the US form by rule (unchecked). Respelling: generated.
  • No UK recording; the speaker uses your device’s en-GB voice.
  • US IPA: CMUdict (BSD-2), converted to IPA by rule. Respelling: generated.
  • No US recording; the speaker uses your device’s en-US voice.

Origin: Built on Latin decidere, which Skeat (Concise Dictionary, 1911) analyses as de- ‘down, away, from’ + cadere ‘to fall’.

Roots

Related words

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