Etymograph

English

cede

Cede comes from Latin cēdō ‘to yield’, and goes back to Proto-Indo-European *ḱyesdʰ- ‘to drive away’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*ḱyesdʰ-1‘to drive away’reconstructed
  2. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEcēdō1‘to yield’
  3. Old Frenchc. 842–1400ceder1
  4. Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600ceder1
  5. Englishearliest quotation 2005cede1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English cede
  2. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 2005, Jesse Helms, Foreign Relations Experiences: “In the late nineteenth century, the Chinese ceded Taiwan…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*ḱyesdʰ-Wiktionary, English cede‘to drive away’reconstructed
  2. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEcēdōWiktionary, English cede‘to yield’
  3. Old Frenchc. 842–1400cederWiktionary, English cede
  4. Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600cederWiktionary, English cede
  5. Englishearliest quotation 2005cedeWiktionary, English cede. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 2005, Jesse Helms, Foreign Relations Experiences: “In the late nineteenth century, the Chinese ceded Taiwan…”

Linked words

through Latin cēdō ‘to yield’

process, success, necessary, procedure, accessible, excess, succeed, cease, recession, concession, predecessor, recess, accession, precedent, secession, cessation, intercession, antecedent, decedent, 28 more

Today it means

verb To give up; yield to another.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “cede”. 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 *ḱyesdʰ- / cede

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