Etymologically
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cascade

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Pronunciation

  • /kæsˈkeɪd/[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French cascade,[2][3][4][5][6][7] from Italian cascata (“waterfall”), from cascare (“to fall”),[2][3][4][5][8] from Vulgar Latin *casicō,[3][4][5][6][8] formed from Latin cāsus (“fallen”), the past participle of cadō (“to fall”),[4][3][8][6] from Proto-Indo-European *kad- (“to fall”).[3][5] The suffix is the one in -ade.[2][4][7] Johnson (1755) called the Italian verb "a low word".[9] The word is related to cadence, case and chance.[4][6][10]

Earliest recorded meaning

A small waterfall, especially one of a series, natural or artificial: Barnhart and Merriam-Webster date it to 1641, in John Evelyn's Diary,[4][6] which the OED dates about 1660, the time of writing of its entry for 1641.[2] Klein credits Evelyn with introducing the word into English.[8]

Semantic evolution

From 1671 to 1718 the word was also used more loosely of any fall of water.[2] Its figurative uses began with a firework imitating a fall of water (1749) and a method of charging Leyden jars in series, charge by cascade (1866),[2] which led to the 20th-century sense of a series of stages in a process, each setting off the next, in physics and chemistry (1902).[2] A loose fall of lace is recorded from 1882.[2] The verb, to fall or pour in a cascade, dates from 1702;[2][3][4][6] it was used transitively from 1796, by Coleridge,[2] of linking electronic valves in stages from 1930,[2] and of information passed down a hierarchy from 1973.[2] The verb also served as a euphemism for to vomit, dated 1742 by Green's Dictionary of Slang and 1805 by the OED,[11][2] and Wright found it still in Hampshire dialect.[12] In Australian slang a cascade was a beer, after the Cascade Brewing Company of Hobart.[11] In London in 1851, cascades were tumbling and gymnastic performances.[12]

Timeline

  • 1641 – a small waterfall, in Evelyn's Diary.[4][6]
  • 1702 – verb, to fall in a cascade.[2][4]
  • 1742 – verb, euphemism for to vomit.[11]
  • 1749 – a firework imitating a waterfall.[2]
  • 1796 – verb, transitive, to pour like a cascade.[2]
  • 1866 – charge by cascade, of Leyden jars.[2]
  • 1882 – a loose fall of lace.[2]
  • 1902 – a succession of stages in a process.[2]
  • 1930 – verb, to connect in stages.[2]
  • 1973 – verb, of information, to be passed down.[2]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A small waterfall, or one of a series of small falls over steep rocks.[6][13][14]
  2. Something that falls or hangs like a waterfall, such as an arrangement of lace or of hair: a cascade of red curls.[13][14]
  3. A series of stages or processes, each of which triggers the next.[13][14][2]
  4. In electronics, a series of components in which the output of each feeds the next.[13][14][2]

Verb

  1. To fall or pour down in large amounts, like a cascade: Water cascaded down the stairs.[6][14][2]
  2. To arrange or connect in a cascade.[2][14]
  3. Of information, to be passed on in stages, as down a hierarchy.[2]

Word family

  • cascader

References

  1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  5. ^ a b c d The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h i Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  7. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  8. ^ a b c d Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
  9. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
  10. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  11. ^ a b c Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com
  12. ^ a b Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)
  13. ^ a b c d Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
  14. ^ a b c d e f The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin