Etymograph

English

cassation

Cassation comes from Latin cassō ‘destroy, annul’, from cassus ‘lacking’, and ultimately from Proto-Italic *kazēō ‘to lack’.

  1. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*kazēō1‘to lack’reconstructed
  2. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEcareō1‘to lack, be without., to be deprived of’
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEcassus1‘lacking’
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEcassō2‘destroy, annul’
  5. Frenchc. 1600–presentcassation2
  6. Englishtodaycassation2

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, Latin casso
  2. 2 Wiktionary, English cassation

Earlier history uncertain. See Wiktionary.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*kazēōWiktionary, Latin casso‘to lack’reconstructed
  2. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEcareōWiktionary, Latin casso‘to lack, be without., to be deprived of’
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEcassusWiktionary, Latin casso‘lacking’
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEcassōWiktionary, English cassation‘destroy, annul’
  5. Frenchc. 1600–presentcassationWiktionary, English cassation
  6. EnglishtodaycassationWiktionary, English cassation

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *ḱes- ‘to cut’

castle, caste, chastity, chaste, chastise, castrate, cashel, 23 more

through Latin careō ‘to lack, be without., to be deprived of’

caries, 4 more

Another origin of cassation

  1. Italianc. 1300–presentcassazione
  2. Germanc. 1650–presentKassation‘nullification, quashing, cassation’
  3. Englishtodaycassation

Today it means

noun The abrogation of a law by a higher authority; annulment.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “cassation”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entry for Latin casso. 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-Italic *kazēō / cassation

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