incessant

Where does the word "incessant" come from? It comes from Latin cessare, passing through Latin before entering English (1400s).

Incessant’s story begins in Latin: cessare meant “to cease.” To cease, frequentative of cedere (to go, yield). Within Latin, it grew into incessans by ancient. Not ceasing, from in- (not) and cessare (to cease). It reached English by 1400s as incessant. Settled as the English word for something continuing without pause. Today, incessant means continuing without pause or interruption, often annoyingly so.

1. Stage 1 · Latin · ancient cessare "to cease", to cease, frequentative of cedere (to go, yield).
2. Stage 2 · Latin · ancient incessans "not ceasing", not ceasing, from in- (not) and cessare (to cease).
3. Stage 3 · English · 1400s incessant "continuing without pause or interruption", settled as the English word for something continuing without pause.