fall

Where “fall” sits in English frequency

Definition

1. 1
   To be moved downwards.
2. 2
   To be moved downwards.
3. 3
   To be moved downwards.
4. 4
   To be moved downwards.
5. 5
   To be moved downwards.
6. 6
   To move downwards.
7. 7
   To move downwards.
8. 8
   To move downwards.
9. 9
   To change, often negatively.
10. 10
    To change, often negatively.
11. 11
    To change, often negatively.
12. 12
    To change, often negatively.
13. 13
    To occur (on a certain day of the week, date, or similar); to happen.
14. 14
    To be allotted to; to arrive through chance, fate, or inheritance.
15. 15
    To diminish; to lessen or lower.
16. 16
    To bring forth.
17. 17
    To issue forth into life; to be brought forth; said of the young of certain animals.
18. 18
    To descend in character or reputation; to become degraded; to sink into vice, error, or sin.
19. 19
    To become ensnared or entrapped; to be worse off than before.
20. 20
    To assume a look of shame or disappointment; to become or appear dejected; said of the face.
21. 21
    To happen; to come to pass; to chance or light (upon).
22. 22
    To begin with haste, ardour, or vehemence; to rush or hurry.
23. 23
    To be dropped or uttered carelessly.
24. 24
    To hang down (under the influence of gravity).
25. 25
    To visit; to go to a place.

Etymology

Verb from Middle English fallen, from Old English feallan (“to fall, fail, decay, die, attack”), from Proto-West Germanic *fallan (“to fall”), from Proto-Germanic *fallaną (“to fall”). Cognate with West Frisian falle (“to fall”), Low German fallen (“to fall”), Dutch vallen (“to fall”), German fallen (“to fall”), Danish falde (“to fall”), Norwegian Bokmål falle (“to fall”), Norwegian Nynorsk falla (“to fall”), Icelandic falla (“to fall”), Lithuanian pùlti (“to attack, rush”). Noun from Middle English fal, fall, falle, from Old English feall, ġefeall (“a falling, fall”) and Old English fealle (“trap, snare”), from Proto-Germanic *fallą, *fallaz (“a fall, trap”). Cognate with Dutch val, German Fall (“fall”) and German Falle (“trap, snare”), Danish fald, Swedish fall, Icelandic fall. Sense of "autumn" is attested by the 1660s in England as a shortening of fall of the leaf (1540s), from the falling of leaves during this season. Along with autumn, it mostly replaced the older name harvest as that name began to be associated strictly with the act of harvesting. Compare spring, which began as a shortening of “spring of the leaf”.

This word in other languages

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as: afll,ffall,flal

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of fall - counted as single-character edits (an insertion, a deletion, or a substituted letter). The larger the bar, the easier the typo is to spot; one-edit slips are the ones that sneak past readers.

Frequently Asked Questions