# casualty

> English word · Noun · IPA /ˈkaʒʊ.əlti/ · frequency rank #12,739

## Definitions
1. Something that happens by chance, especially an unfortunate event; an accident, a disaster.
2. A person suffering from injuries or who has been killed due to an accident or through an act of violence.
3. Specifically, a person who has been killed (not only injured) due to an accident or through an act of violence; a fatality.
4. A person in military service who becomes unavailable for duty, for any reason (notably death, injury, illness, capture, or desertion).
5. Clipping of casualty department: the accident and emergency department of a hospital providing immediate treatment.
6. An incidental charge or payment.
7. Someone or something adversely affected by a decision, event or situation.
8. Chance nature; randomness.

## Etymology
From casual, from Middle French casuel, from Medieval Latin casualitas and Late Latin cāsuālis (“happening by chance”), from Latin cāsus (“event”) (English case), from cadere (“to fall”). Originally meaning “a chance event” (compare casual, as in “casual encounter”), it developed a negative meaning as “an unfortunate event”, especially the loss of a person.

## Easily confused with
- **casual** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/casual-vs-casualty)
- **casually** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/casually-vs-casualty)

## Common misspellings (12)
`acsualty`, `casaulty`, `cassualty`, `casuallty`, `casualtty`, `casualtyy`, `casualyt`, `casuatly`, `casulaty`, `causalty`, `ccasualty`, `csaualty`

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/casualty