desuetude

Meaning

1. (formal, uncountable) The state when something (for example, a custom or a law) is no longer observed nor practised; disuse, obsolescence; (countable) an instance of this.
2. (countable, formal, obsolete) Chiefly followed by from or of: a cessation of practising or using something.

Synonyms

disuse

obsolescence

obsoleteness

uselessness

discontinuance

bootlessness

needlessness

rustiness

Translations

disuso

désuétude

desús

αχρηστία

abandon

oubli

dissuetudine

onbruik

cessação

desuso

interrupação

desuso

kullanılmayış

الإهمال

yürürIükten kalkma

Pronounced as (IPA)

/ˈdɛswɪtjuːd/

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English: desuetude

Cognate with French: désuétude

In summary

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”).