Etymology

waterfall

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Today it means: A flow of water over the edge of a cliff. Full definition →

Middle English waterfal ← Old English wæterġefeall
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waterfall · noun, verb1

  1. Old English · inherited fromwæterġefeall“waterfall”
  2. Middle English · inherited fromwaterfal
  3. English todaywaterfall

From Middle English waterfal, waterfalle, from Old English wæterġefeall (“waterfall”), equivalent to water + fall. Cognate with West Frisian wetterfal (“waterfall”), Dutch waterval (“waterfall”), German Wasserfall (“waterfall”), Swedish vattenfall (“waterfall”).

Waterfall · proper noun2

See waterfall.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.