Wordwyrt

occasional

/əˈkeɪʒənəl/uh-KAY-zhuh-nuhl
/əˈkeɪʒənəl/uh-KAY-zhuh-nuhl

Meaningrelating to a falling-out

Common meaning: happening now and then

‘towards, against (form of ob-)’ + ‘to fall’ → occasional

Journey through time

  1. Latincadō, cecidī, cāsum‘to fall’
  2. Frenchoccident
  3. Englishoccasion‘a moment at which something takes place’
  4. Englishformed in English from occasionoccasional‘happening now and then’ · 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: Formed in English from occasion + -al.

Dictionary: Skeat (1898), OCCASION, p.400 · scan

Roots

Building blocks are an automatic split · open in app