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occido

Etymology and origin of the Latin word occido

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occido1 kill

Confidence
Established
Formation
Compound
First attested
Laws of the kings

Pronunciation

  • IPA (Classical): [ɔkˈkiː.doː][1]
  • IPA (Ecclesiastical): [otˈt͡ʃiː.do][1]

Forms

occīdō (present infinitive occīdere, perfect active occīdī, supine occīsum); third conjugation[1]

Etymology

The verb “to kill” is a compound of ob- (“towards, against”) and caedō “to cut, strike”.[2][3][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The laws of the kings and the Twelve Tables have the old perfect occīsit, as Festus and Macrobius record.[2][4]

Semantic evolution

It first meant to strike down or beat, as Terence's man “beaten to death” with fists, and Varro uses it of breaking up the soil.[3][4] Its usual sense was to kill, slaughter: Cicero's accusers who profited from a father's murder, Caesar's general killed fighting before the camp.[2][3] By hyperbole it meant to pester someone to death, as Horace's “you have killed me, friends, not saved me”, or to ruin.[2][4] It survives in Italian uccidere, Romanian ucide and Old French occire.[1]

Timeline

  • c. 450 BC – The Twelve Tables, occīsit.[2]
  • c. 235–200 BC – Naevius, of killing a twin.[2]
  • 190–159 BC – Terence, of a beating.[2][3]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero, of murder.[2][4]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To strike down, beat; to break up (soil).[3][4]
  2. To kill, slaughter.[2][3]
  3. (hyperbolic) To pester to death, plague; to ruin.[2][4]

Word family

  • occīsiō
  • occīdiō
  • occīsor

occido2 fall, set, perish

Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
Ennius
Ultimate origin
Latin (cadō)

Pronunciation

  • IPA (Classical): [ˈɔk.kɪ.doː][1]
  • IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈɔt.t͡ʃi.do][1]

Forms

occidō (present infinitive occidere, perfect active occidī, supine occāsum); third conjugation, no passive[1]

Etymology

It is from ob- and cadō “to fall”.[2][1][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

The OLD's earliest citations are from Ennius, of dying and of the setting of heavenly bodies.[2] Köbler dates Ennius 204–169 BC.[6]

Semantic evolution

It meant to fall down, a sense Lewis and Short call rare, as Livy's trees that fell at a light push.[2][7][4] Its common sense was to die, be struck down, as in Ennius, of species to die out, as in Lucretius, and of persons to be ruined, as Plautus' occidī “I'm done for”.[2] Of heavenly bodies it meant to set, as in Ennius, and sōle occāsō was after sunset, and Petronius uses it of a lamp going out.[2] It also meant to pass away, sink into nothingness, as early as Pacuvius.[2]

In Ecclesiastical Latin it meant to set, go down, fall, perish, die.[8] Its participle occidēns “setting”, of the western sky, gave English occident in the late 14th century, and its noun occāsiō gave English occasion.[9]

Timeline

  • 204–169 BC – Ennius uses it of dying and of setting.[2][6]
  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it of being ruined.[2][6]
  • 220–130 BC – Pacuvius uses it of passing away.[2][6]
  • late 14th century – English occident is recorded.[9]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To fall down.[2]
  2. To die, be killed; of species, to die out.[2]
  3. To be ruined, come to grief.[2]
  4. Of heavenly bodies, to set; of a lamp, to go out.[2]
  5. To pass away, perish.[2]

Word family

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i 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 Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d e f Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
  4. ^ a b c d e f g Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
  5. ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  6. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  7. ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  8. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
  9. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
Cite this entry

“Occido.” Etymologically, 16 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/la/occido. Accessed 16 Oct. 2026.

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