decease

Etymology

The noun is inherited from Middle English deces, also desces,^[2][3][4][5] borrowed from Old French deces, also desces,^[4][6][7][8] recorded in Anglo-Norman as decés from the 1120s,^[9] from Latin dēcessus (“departure, death”),^[4][10][11] a verbal noun from the participial stem of dēcēdō (“to go away, depart, die”),^[4][12][6] from dē- (“away”) and cēdō (“to go”),^[6][12][3] from Proto-Indo-European *ked- (“to go, yield”).^[6][10] The modern French form is décès.^[4][6] The verb is inherited from Middle English decesen, from the noun,^{[2][10][12][4]} taken as the English form of the Latin verb and of French décéder.^[4] Medieval Latin also used discēdō and discessus in the senses "to die" and "death", hence the French s spelling and the Middle English spellings beginning “des”, “dis” and “dys”, some of them identical with spellings of disease.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Departure from life, death: about 1330, in Mannyng's Chronicle,^[4] which Barnhart dates to before 1338.^[3] The Anglo-Norman word had this sense already in the early 12th century.^[9]

Semantic evolution

In Latin the word was a euphemism for mors, and it keeps a tinge of euphemism in English.^[6][13] Weekley noted that in French and English it is chiefly official,^[13] and modern dictionaries label it formal or legal.^[14][8][15] Middle English could also use it for a ceasing or an end,^[2] and in 1513 G. Douglas used it for the death of many, a slaughter.^[4] The verb, to die, is recorded from 1433 in the Rolls of Parliament^[2][3] and 1439 in the OED,^[4] with a figurative use "to come to an end, perish" from 1538.^[4][14] Johnson (1755) gives "death; departure from life" for the noun, with a quotation from Hooker on an owner's decease.^[16] The Oxford Dictionary of English now calls the verb archaic.^[8] The adjective deceased is recorded from 1489 and the noun the deceased from 1625.^[3]

Timeline

• c. 1330 – noun, departure from life, death.^[4]
• 1433 – verb, to die.^[2][3] The OED first has it in 1439.^[4]
• 1489 – adjective deceased.^[3]
• 1513 – the death of many, slaughter (obsolete).^[4]
• 1515 – to decease this world, to die (obsolete).^[4]
• 1538 – verb, figurative, to come to an end, perish.^[4]
• 1625 – noun the deceased.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. (formal) Death, especially in legal use: On her decease the farm passes to her nephew.^{[15][12][14][8]}

Verb

1. (formal) To die.^{[15][12][10][8]}
2. (figurative) To come to an end; to perish.^[4][14]

Word family

• predecease

Related words

• deceased
• decedent
• predecessor
• cease
• cede
• disease

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
3. ^ a b c d e f g h Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ Skeat, Walter W. (1911), A Concise Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, new ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
7. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
8. ^ a b c d e Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ a b Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
10. ^ a b c d The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
11. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
12. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
13. ^ a b Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
14. ^ a b c d Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
15. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
16. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.