cascade
kass-KAYD · noun
Origin
Cascade comes from French cascade, borrowed from Italian cascata, from cascare, meaning "to fall." That traces back through Vulgar Latin *cāsicāre to Latin cadere, and ultimately to the Proto-Indo-European root *ḱh₂d-.
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Journey
The word moved from Italian into French and then English, carrying its core sense of falling with it at each step, eventually settling into English as a noun for water falling in stages.
Related words
Because it descends from Latin cadere, "to fall," cascade shares deep roots with other English words built on that same falling sense.