Where does “fallout” come from?
Fallout is a noun derived from the phrasal verb fall out, first used in nuclear physics contexts in mid-20th-century English to describe radioactive particles descending from the atmosphere.
fallout (English): The event of small airborne particles falling to...
Definitions
- The event of small airborne particles falling to...
Ancestry of “fallout”, step by step
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|
| 1 | English | fall | "To be moved downwards."; "To move downwards.";... |
| 2 | Middle English | fall | — |
| 3 | Old English | feall | Alternative form of fiell |
| 4 | Proto-Germanic | fallą | — |
| 5 | Proto-Indo-European | (s)pōl- | to fall |
Words derived from “fallout”