decay English · revision 16166

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=1475, Rolls of Parliament|origins=la cadō}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /diˈkeɪ/; /dɪˈkeɪ/ ''(UK)''^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[inh|enm|decayen]], [[bor|fro-nor|decair]] (also Anglo-Norman),^(Etymonline)^(MWU 2024)^(Klein 1966) a by-form of [[m|fro|decheoir|t=to fall, decline]] (modern [[fr|déchoir]]),^(Hoad 1986)^(SOED 2002)^(OED 2026) from [[la-vul|*dēcadō|t=to fall off]],^(Etymonline)^(AHD 2024)^(Weekley 1921) a refashioning of [[la|dēcidō|t=to fall off, fall down]],^(Klein 1966)^(Ayto 2005)^(ODE 2010) from [[m|la|dē-|t=down, off]] and [[m|la|cadō|t=to fall]],^(AHD 2024)^(OED 2026) from [[ine-pro|*ḱad-|t=to fall]].^(Etymonline)^(AHD 2024) It is a [[doublet]] of ''[[decadence]]''.^(Barnhart 1988)^(Ayto 2005)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ To decrease: 1475, in the ''Rolls of Parliament''.^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline) The noun, a falling off from a thriving condition, is earlier, from about 1460 in Fortescue in the OED,^(OED 2026) and 1442 in Barnhart.^(Barnhart 1988)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Ayto sees in both ''decay'' and ''decadence'' the notion of a falling off from health or perfection.^(Ayto 2005) The verb meant to decline or deteriorate before 1500, and to rot or decompose from 1580.^(Barnhart 1988) The noun followed: wasting away of material things (1523), decline of health (1609, in Shakespeare's Sonnets), and the decomposition of organic tissue (1594).^(OED 2026)^(Etymonline) In 18th- and 19th-century use ''a decay'' could mean consumption,^(OED 2026) and in Scots it survived for "a decline".^(Wright 1898) Physics adopted it for the decrease of radioactivity in 1897, in Rutherford,^(OED 2026)^(Etymonline) and later for the decreasing amplitude of a vibration (1906).^(OED 2026)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 1460 – the noun, decline.^(OED 2026)

+ * 1475 – the verb, to decrease.^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * before 1500 – to deteriorate.^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * 1580 – to rot.^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * 1594 – decomposition of organic tissue.^(OED 2026)

+ * 1897 – radioactive decay.^(OED 2026)^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Verb===

+ # To rot or [[decompose]] through the action of [[bacterium|alt=bacteria]] or [[fungus|alt=fungi]].^(AHD 2024)^(Collins 2023)

+ # To decline gradually in quality, strength or prosperity.^(AHD 2024)^(Collins 2023)

+ # ''(physics)'' Of a radioactive [[nucleus]] or a particle, to break down into another form.^(AHD 2024)^(Collins 2023)

+ # Of a satellite, to lose height in its [[orbit]].^(AHD 2024)

+

+ ===Noun===

+ # The process or state of decaying; rot or [[decline]].^(AHD 2024)^(MWU 2024)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[decayer]]

+ * [[decayable]]

+ * [[decayless]]

+ * [[semidecay]]

+ * [[nondecaying]]

+ * [[undecaying]]

+ * [[alpha decay]]

+ * [[beta decay]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[deciduous]]

+ * [[decadence]]

+ * [[cadence]]

+ * [[case]]

+ * [[chance]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}