DictionaryRoot: cedere

Latin

cedere

go, move; withdraw or yield

Forms

ced-
cess- — Latin stem used in forms referring to having gone or yielded.

Origin

Reconstructed Proto-Indo-European *ked-, ‘go; yield.’

Note

Giving way connects physical movement with surrendering a claim or position.

1 / 40

A close-up of an inflamed skin swelling with a small, integrated cutaway revealing a localized pocket of yellow pus beneath the raised red surface.

noun

abscess

AB-sess/ˈæbses/

A swollen, infected area containing pus.

Etymology

absLatinaway, off, from

+cessLatingo, move; withdraw or yield

Literally “a going away,” the name reflects the old notion that bodily humors departed from the body through the pus in a swelling.

Related word entries