cedo

Cedo is a Latin verb meaning to yield, give way, concede, grant, or surrender; it can also mean to go, move, or depart in a sense of progression. It is a common verb in Classical Latin and appears in legal, rhetorical, and historical texts as well as in mottoes and scholastic writing.

Grammar and principal parts: Cedo belongs to the third conjugation and has the principal parts cedo, cedere, cessi, cessum. These provide the basis for its full conjugation, including present indicative (cedo, cedis, credit? no, cedit; cedimus, ceditis, cedunt), imperfect (cedebam, cedebas, cedebat, cedebamus, cedebatis, cedebant), perfect (cessi, cesserunt), and the supine form cessum. The passive forms use a corresponding system, for example cedor, cedoris, ceditur, cedimur, cedimini, ceduntur. The verb also yields many compound forms in compounds such as ac-cedo (to approach) or con-cedo (to grant or concede).

Usage and derivatives: Cedo serves to express yielding or granting in a range of senses—from ceding territory or a claim to conceding a point in argument. It is the source of numerous English derivatives formed with the root ced- or cess- including concede, concede a request; exceed, proceed, precede, recede, and succeed (the latter through the related compound succedere). In Romance languages, descendants of the same Latin root appear as Spanish ceder, Portuguese ceder, Italian cedere, and French céder, all with related meanings of yielding or giving way.

In summary, cedo is a foundational Latin verb whose sense of yielding underpins many related words across languages and disciplines.