Etymograph

English

cadent

Cadent comes from Latin cadens ‘falling’, from cado ‘to fall’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *ḱád-e-ti.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*ḱád-e-ti1reconstructed
  2. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*kadō2‘to fall, sink’reconstructed
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEcado3‘to fall’
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEcadens3‘falling’present active participle of cado
  5. Englishtodaycadent3

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, Proto-Italic *kadō
  2. 2 Wiktionary, Latin cado
  3. 3 Wiktionary, English cadent

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*ḱád-e-tiWiktionary, Proto-Italic *kadōreconstructed
  2. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*kadōWiktionary, Latin cado‘to fall, sink’reconstructed
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEcadoWiktionary, English cadent‘to fall’
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEcadensWiktionary, English cadent‘falling’present active participle of cado
  5. EnglishtodaycadentWiktionary, English cadent

Linked words

through Latin cado ‘to fall’

chance, case, occasion, accident, cheat, incident, casualty, decay, coincide, incidence, deciduous, recidivism, occidental, cadaver, occident, 16 more

Today it means

adj Falling.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “cadent”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entries for Proto-Italic *kadō, Latin cado. 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 *ḱád-e-ti / cadent

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