caído

Caído is the past participle of the verb caer in Spanish and is used as an adjective and, less commonly, as a noun. It derives from Latin cadere and agrees with the noun it describes in gender and number (un árbol caído, una fruta caída; los objetos caídos; una persona caída en desgracia).

As an adjective, caído denotes something that has fallen, dropped, or collapsed. It can refer to physical objects (un tronco caído), to weather or natural events (lluvia caída), or to figurative states (una persona caída en desgracia; un proyecto caído en desuso). In set phrases, it appears in expressions such as caído en desgracia, caído en combate, or caído del cielo, the latter commonly meaning something that arrives unexpectedly or as a providential blessing.

As a noun, caído can refer to a person who has fallen, especially in contexts of conflict or catastrophe, with the plural caídos used for groups of fallen people. The feminine form is caída, and the plural is caídas.

In religious and literary contexts, the term is often used to denote beings or states associated with falling from grace or status, such as ángeles caídos (fallen angels).

Overall, caído is a versatile descriptor in Spanish that conveys a change from an original upright position to a state of being fallen, whether literal or figurative.