Etymograph

English

cease

Cease comes from Middle French cesser ‘to cease’, from Latin cessō ‘leave off’, and perhaps ultimately from Proto-Italic *kezdō.

  1. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*kezdō1uncertain
  2. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEcēdō2‘to leave off, go away’
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEcessō2‘leave off’frequentative of cēdō
  4. Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600cesser2‘to cease’
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500cesen2
  6. Englishearliest quotation c. 1599–1602cease2

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, Latin cedo
  2. 2 Wiktionary, English cease
  3. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: c. 1599–1602, William Shakespeare, The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke: “the cease of majesty”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*kezdōWiktionary, Latin cedouncertain
  2. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEcēdōWiktionary, English cease‘to leave off, go away’
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEcessōWiktionary, English cease‘leave off’frequentative of cēdō
  4. Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600cesserWiktionary, English cease‘to cease’
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500cesenWiktionary, English cease
  6. Englishearliest quotation c. 1599–1602ceaseWiktionary, English cease. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: c. 1599–1602, William Shakespeare, The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke: “the cease of majesty”

Linked words

through Proto-Italic *kezdō

excessive, successor, succession, successive, procession, inaccessible, recessive, precession, 9 more

through Latin cēdō ‘to leave off, go away’

process, success, necessary, procedure, succeed, accessible, excess, recession, predecessor, precedent, concession, recess, concede, accession, secession, intercession, cede, 29 more

through Latin cessō ‘leave off’

cessation

through Middle French cesser ‘to cease’

cess

Today it means

verb To stop.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “cease”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entry for Latin cedo. 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 *kezdō / cease

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