"C" Word Origins

C-suite

English

From the initial C of executive titles beginning with 'chief', plus suite in the sense of a set of senior offices.

c'est la vie

French

A French phrase meaning literally that is the life, used in English in its original form.

cab

Origin

A shortening of cabriolet, an old horse-drawn carriage.

cabal

French

From French cabale, ultimately from Hebrew kabalah ("received tradition") — the same root as the mystical Kabbalah.

caballero

Latin

Borrowed from Spanish caballero ("horseman, gentleman"), from Latin caballus ("horse") — a doublet of cavalier and chevalier.

cabana

Late Latin

Borrowed from Spanish cabaña and Portuguese cabana, both from Late Latin capanna — a doublet of cabin.

cabaret

French

Borrowed from French cabaret, originally meaning a small tavern or inn.

cabbage

Latin

From Middle English caboche ("head"), borrowed from Anglo-Norman caboche, likely built from Latin caput ("head") — the cabbage was named for its round, head-like shape.

cabbie

Origin

Simply "cab" plus the informal suffix "-ie," the same pattern as "movie" or "rookie."

Cabe

Irish

Reduced form of MacCabe or McCabe, anglicized form of Irish Mac Cába.

cabernet

French

Borrowed directly from French cabernet, the traditional name of the grape variety.

cabeza

Spanish

Borrowed from Spanish cabeza, meaning "head."

cabin

Medieval Latin

From Middle English caban, via Old French cabane, ultimately from Medieval Latin capanna, "a hut."

cabinet

French

From "cabin" plus the diminutive suffix "-et," shaped by the similar French word cabinet; the political sense grew from "a small private room" where advisors met, much like "salon" took its name from a meeting room.

cabinetmaker

Origin

From cabinet + maker.

cable

Latin

From Middle English cable, via Old Northern French, ultimately from Latin capere ("to take, seize") — the original sense was a rope strong enough to "seize" and hold something fast.

cablegram

Origin

From cable + -gram.

cablet

Origin

From cable + -let.

caboodle

Origin · 1800

American slang from the mid-1800s, likely a reshaping of "kit and boodle"; "the whole boodle" is recorded from the 1830s.

caboose

German

From Dutch kabuis/kombuis ("ship's galley"), which also gave German Low German Kabüüs — the train sense grew from the idea of a small onboard kitchen.

Cabrera

Spanish

Borrowed from Spanish Cabrera, from Catalan or Leonese.

cabriolet

Origin

Borrowed from French cabriolet.

Cabron

Spanish

Borrowed from Spanish cabrón, a vulgar insult literally meaning "big goat."

Caca

Origin

The sister of Cacus, which see.

cacao

Nahuatl

Via Spanish from Nahuatl cacahuatl, the word for the cacao bean in the language of the Aztecs.

cache

French

From French cache ("hiding place"), a word used by French-Canadian trappers for a hidden store of supplies, from the verb cacher ("to hide").

cache memory

French

From cache, a hiding place, from French cacher, to hide, combined with memory.

cachet

Origin

Borrowed from French cachet, first appearing in Scottish English, from 1630.

cack

Origin

Onomatopoeia; see cackle.

cackle

Middle English

From Middle English caclen/cakelen, likely echoing the sound itself, related to Dutch kakelen and German Low German kakeln, all meaning "to cackle."

cacodaemon

Origin

From Ancient Greek κακοδαίμων (kakodaímōn), from κακός (kakós, “bad, evil”) and δαίμων (daímōn, “divinity, genius”).

cacodemon

Origin

From Ancient Greek κακοδαίμων (kakodaímōn, “ill-starred”, from κακός (kakós, “bad”) + δαίμων (daímōn, “genius, divinity”)). By surface analysis, caco- + demon.

cacoethes

Origin

Borrowed from Latin cacoēthes, from Ancient Greek κακοήθης (kakoḗthēs, “ill-disposed”) from κακός (kakós, “bad”) + ἦθος (êthos, “disposition, nature”).

cacography

Origin

From caco- + -graphy, perhaps after Middle French cacographie.

cacophonous

Origin

Adapted borrowing of Ancient Greek κακόφωνος (kakóphōnos) + -ous, from κακός (kakós, “bad”) + -φωνος (-phōnos, “sounding”). By surface analysis, caco- + -phonous.

cacophony

Ancient Greek

From French cacophonie, built from Ancient Greek kakos ("bad") plus phone ("sound") — literally "bad sound."

cactus

Ancient Greek · 1752

From the taxonomic genus name Cactus, coined by Linnaeus in 1752, from Ancient Greek kaktos, originally the name for a spiny thistle-like plant.

cad

French

Shortened from "caddie," ultimately from French cadet, meaning "chief" or "captain" in an older dialect form.

cadaver

Latin

From Latin cadaver, "corpse," related to the verb cadere, "to fall."

cadaverous

Origin

From Latin cadāverōsus; compare Middle English cadaverous (“gangrenous, mortified”).

caddie

French

From Scots caddie, itself from French cadet ("younger son, army cadet"); originally used for young errand-runners before narrowing to its golf sense.

caddy

Malay

An altered form of "catty," a unit of weight used in Southeast Asia, borrowed from Malay kati.

Cade

Germanic

Possibly from an old personal name Cada, related to a Germanic root meaning "lump" or "swelling"; the sense of "hand-reared animal" grew from there.

cadence

Latin

Via Middle French cadence from Old Italian cadenza ("a falling"), from Latin cadere, "to fall" — the same root behind "cadenza" and "chance."

cadency

Origin

From Latin *cadentia.

cadet

Late Latin · 1630

Borrowed from French cadet, from Gascon capdet ("little chief"), from Late Latin capitellum, "small head" — first used in English from the 1630s.

cadette

Origin

From cadet + -ette.

cadge

Origin

From Middle English caggen (“to tie, fasten, bind”), probably from Old Norse. Compare Old Norse kǫgurr (“quilt”), kǫgurbarn (“swaddled child”).