succumb

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English succomben,^[2][3] borrowed from Old French succomber, also subcomber,^[4][5][2] and directly borrowed from Latin succumbō (“to lie under, sink down, yield, submit”).^[5][3][6] Barnhart names the French source as Middle French.^[3] The Latin verb is formed from sub- (“under”) and -cumbō (“to lie down”), a form found only in compounds,^[4][5][7][8] and related to cubō (“to lie down”).^[5][7][3] The same element gave incumbent and recumbent, and its form without the nasal is behind covey, incubate, incubus and succubus.^[8] The OED compares soccombere, sucumbir and succumbir.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

To bring down, bring low or overwhelm: 1490, in Caxton's translation of Blanchardyn and Eglantine.^[4][3][5]

Semantic evolution

The first, transitive sense died out by the mid-16th century.^[4][6] In Scotland the verb meant to fail in a cause, especially to lose a lawsuit for lack of proof, from the 16th to the early 18th century.^[4][6][9] The modern sense, to sink under pressure or give way to a stronger force, appears in 1604, in William Alexander's Aurora,^[4][3][10] and was construed with to by 1632.^[4] Johnson (1755) defined it as to yield or sink under a difficulty, but said it was not in use except among the Scots,^[11] and Sinclair (1782) also noted it as a peculiarly Scottish word;^[4][12] Weekley says it was regarded as Scottish until the 19th century.^[12] The specific sense of yielding to a disease or wounds, and so dying, is recorded from 1849,^[4][3] though Etymonline finds this euphemism for death from 1834.^[5]

Timeline

• 1490 – transitive, to bring down, overwhelm (obsolete by 1550).^[4][3]
• 1561 – in Scotland, to fail in a cause (obsolete).^[4][6]
• 1604 – to sink under pressure, give way to a superior force.^[4][3]
• 1632 – with to, to yield to.^[4]
• 1849 – to yield to a disease or wounds; to die.^[4][3] Etymonline dates this use to 1834.^[5]

Meanings

Verb

1. To stop resisting a stronger force, temptation or pressure; to give in: After an hour of pleading, his father succumbed and bought the bicycle.^[13][10][4]
2. To die, or to be badly affected, from a disease, injury or old age: Many of the soldiers succumbed to fever.^[13][4]
3. (obsolete, 1490–1550) To bring down or overwhelm.^[4][6][9]
4. (obsolete, Scotland) To fail in a cause or a lawsuit.^[4][6][9]

Word family

• succumber
• unsuccumbing

Related words

• incumbent
• recumbent
• covey
• incubate
• incubus
• succubus
• cubicle

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j 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 s Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ a b c d e f Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
8. ^ a b Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
9. ^ a b c Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
10. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
11. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
12. ^ a b Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
13. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins