Etymology Explorer › English

Where does “accidental” come from?

Accidental comes from Anglo-Norman accidentel, meaning something not essential or arising by chance rather than by design.

accidental (English): Not essential; incidental, secondary;...

Definitions

  1. Not essential; incidental, secondary;...

Ancestry of “accidental”, step by step

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Middle Englishaccidental—
2Middle Frenchaccidentel—
3Late Latinaccidentalis—
4Latinaccidēns—
5Latinaccidō—
6Latinad-to; usually prefixed to verbs, in which cases it...
7Latinīn-—
8Latinîn—
9Latinenlookǃ beholdǃ; reallyǃ?; come onǃ
10Proto-Italicenin
11Proto-Indo-Europeanh₁énin

Words derived from “accidental”

  • accidentally
  • nonaccidental
  • accidentalness
  • accidentalism
  • accidentalist
Every word from Proto-Indo-European h₁én →