casualty

The story

1. Latin · derived fromcāsus“event”
2. Late Latin · derived fromcāsuālis“happening by chance”
3. Medieval Latin · derived fromcasualitas
4. Middle French · derived fromcasuel
5. English todaycasualty

From casual, from Middle French casuel, from Medieval Latin casualitas and Late Latin cāsuālis (“happening by chance”), from Latin cāsus (“event”) (English case), from cadere (“to fall”). Originally meaning “a chance event” (compare casual, as in “casual encounter”), it developed a negative meaning as “an unfortunate event”, especially the loss of a person.

Words from the same roots