Etymology

occasional

oc·ca·sion·al
O1C3C3A1S1I1O1N1A1L1

Today it means: Occurring or appearing irregularly from time to time, but not often; incidental. Full definition →

Middle English occasyonal ← Medieval Latin occāsiōnālis ← Old French ocasionel
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The story

  1. Old French · derived fromocasionel
  2. Medieval Latin · derived fromoccāsiōnālis
  3. Middle English · inherited fromoccasyonal
  4. English todayoccasional

From Middle English occasyonal, from Medieval Latin occāsiōnālis and Old French ocasionel. By surface analysis, occasion + -al.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.