Etymograph

English

cadaver

Cadaver comes from Latin cadāver ‘corpse, cadaver, carcass’, from cadō ‘to fall’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *ḱh₂d-.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*ḱh₂d-1root named by Wiktionary
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*ḱád-e-ti2reconstructed
  3. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*kadō3‘to fall, sink’reconstructed
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEcadō4‘to fall’
  5. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEcadāver1‘corpse, cadaver, carcass’
  6. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500cadaver1
  7. Englishearliest quotation 2020cadaver1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English cadaver
  2. 2 Wiktionary, Proto-Italic *kadō
  3. 3 Wiktionary, Latin cado
  4. 4 Wiktionary, Latin cadaver, which cites de Vaan
  5. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 2020, Raven Leilani, Luster: “Then my first year of med school, we got…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*ḱh₂d-Wiktionary, English cadaverroot named by Wiktionary
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*ḱád-e-tiWiktionary, Proto-Italic *kadōreconstructed
  3. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*kadōWiktionary, Latin cado‘to fall, sink’reconstructed
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEcadōWiktionary, Latin cadaver, which cites de Vaan‘to fall’
  5. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEcadāverWiktionary, English cadaver‘corpse, cadaver, carcass’
  6. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500cadaverWiktionary, English cadaver
  7. Englishearliest quotation 2020cadaverWiktionary, English cadaver. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 2020, Raven Leilani, Luster: “Then my first year of med school, we got…”

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *ḱh₂d-

casual, coincidence, cascade, coincident, decadence

through Latin cadō ‘to fall’

case, chance, accident, incident, occasion, cheat, incidence, decay, coincide, casualty, deciduous, occidental, cadence, recidivism, decadent, occident, 15 more

Today it means

noun A dead body; especially the corpse of a human to be dissected.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “cadaver”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entries for Proto-Italic *kadō, Latin cado, Latin cadaver. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.

Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *ḱh₂d- / cadaver

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