decollation

Meaningneck

Common meaning: beheading

deaway, offSkeat, Etymological Dictionary (1898), p. 156 · scan
collthe neckLewis & Short, Latin Dictionary (1879), p. 368 · scan
ationnoun ending: act or result

‘away, off’ + ‘the neck’ → decollation

Journey through time

de — Latin de- “away, off” (path traced)
coll — Latin collum “the neck” (path traced)

Parts join in Latin as decollatio.

Latinde- + collum‘away, off + the neck’source
Latindecollatio‘neck’source
Late Latinmeaning shiftsneck → beheadingdecollationem‘beheading’source
Old Frenchdecollation‘a beheading’source
Englishdecollation‘beheading’ · today

Sources & notes

Meaning: “Meaning” is the sense that emerges from the word’s roots; “Common meaning” is today’s everyday sense. Both written by us.

Pronunciation

UK IPA: not available. Respelling: generated.
US IPA: not available. Respelling: generated.

Origin: Built on Latin decollatio, which Skeat analyses as de- ‘away, off’ + collum ‘the neck’.

Roots

collum Latin “the neck”
decollatio Latin “neck”

Related words

accolade collar

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