Codicils

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A legal document that amends, clarifies, or revokes parts of a previously executed will
2. An addition that modifies the directives of a testamentary instrument while maintaining the original will
3. A supplementary document to a will that details changes or additions to the wishes of the deceased

Etymology: "Codicils" is the plural of "codicil", and the singular is the older word of the two in this sense's lineage: it was borrowed from Middle French "codicille", which itself came from Latin "cōdicillus", a diminutive of "cōdex". That Latin base meant a block of wood or a book, and the diminutive points to a little one, so a codicil is literally a small codex, a short supplementary document attached to a larger one. The root "cōdex" is the same word that gave English "code" and "codex", and the family connection explains the legal sense neatly. A will was a substantial written instrument, and a later change was written on a separate small sheet rather than rewriting the whole text, so the name for that small added writing was the diminutive of the word for the book itself.

Synonyms: amendments, addendums