Meanings
nounfalling sickness (uncountable)
alternative falling-sickness
- archaicuncountableEpilepsy.
Casca. He fell down in the market-place, and foamed at mouth, and was speechless. Brutus. 'T is very like: he hath the falling sickness.
1599 (first performance), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Iulius Cæsar”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, (please specify the act number in uppercase Roman numerals, and the scene number in lowercase Roman numerals)
Origin
Compare these noncognates: Old English fiellesēocnes, German Fallsucht.
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Czech padoucnice
- padoucnicearchaic term for “epilepsy”
Danish ligfald, faldende-syge
- ligfaldarchaic term for “epilepsy”
- faldende-sygearchaic term for “epilepsy”
- månesygearchaic term for “epilepsy”
Dutch vallende ziekte
- vallende ziektearchaic term for “epilepsy”
French haut mal
- haut malarchaic term for “epilepsy”
German Fallsucht
- Fallsuchtarchaic term for “epilepsy”
Russian паду́чая боле́знь, паду́чая
- паду́чая боле́знь (padúčaja boléznʹ)archaic term for “epilepsy”
- паду́чая (padúčaja)archaic term for “epilepsy”
Swedish fallandesjuka, fallandesot
- fallandesjukaarchaic term for “epilepsy”
- fallandesotarchaic term for “epilepsy”
Cite this entry
APA
falling sickness. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/falling%20sickness
MLA
“falling sickness.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/falling%20sickness. Accessed November 4, 2026.
Chicago
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “falling sickness,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/falling%20sickness.
Source: falling sickness on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.