Sodeyn

Part of speech: adjective

Definitions

1. Arriving or occurring abruptly and without warning, as an event that catches people off guard in older English
2. Happening all at once, unforeseen and quick, the way an obsolete English adjective describes a surprising event
3. Characterizing something that comes on unexpectedly and without any prior notice, a usage found in Middle English texts

Etymology: Before it meant "sudden" in English, this word was a rather literal description of something coming up from underneath. It descends from Latin "subitus," the past participle of "subire," which combined "sub" ("under") with "ire" ("to go"). The verb carried the sense of approaching from below or creeping up unnoticed, so the idea of arrival without warning was built into it from the start. It passed into Old French as a form like "sodain," and English borrowed that shape, giving Middle English a spelling that still looks strange to modern eyes. The word then lost its older Latin shading and settled into the everyday "sudden." The earlier spelling is a reminder that the sense of catching someone off guard was present from the beginning.

Synonyms: sudden

Antonyms: gradual