desuetude
UK /ˈdɛswɪtjuːd/ · US /ˈdɛswəˌt(j)ud/ noun
Forms desuetudes
- noun (uncountable) The state when something (for example, a custom or a law) is no longer observed nor practised; disuse, obsolescence.
- noun (countable) An instance of this.
- noun (countable, obsolete) Chiefly followed by from or of: a cessation of practising or using something.
Synonyms
disuse inusitation obsoleteness disusage obsolescence obsoletion superannuation unuse
Etymology
From Late Middle English desuetude, dissuetude (“discontinuance of a practice, disuse”), from Middle French désuétude (“obsolescence”) (modern French désuétude), from Latin dēsuētūdo (“discontinuance of a practice or a habit, disuse”), from dēsuētus + -tūdō (“suffix forming abstract nouns indicating conditions or states”). Dēsuētus is the perfect passive participle of dēsuēscō (“to make unaccustomed”), from de- (prefix having a reversing or undoing effect) + suēscō (“to become accustomed or used to; (Late Latin) to accustom, habituate, train”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *swé (“self”) + *dʰeh₁- (“to do; to place, put”), in the sense “to set as one’s own”).
Webster’s 1913
Etymology [L. desuetudo, from desuescere, to grow out of use, disuse; de + suescere to become used or accustomed: cf. F. désuétude. See Custom.]
Sources: Wiktionary · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “desuetude”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details