occidere

Occidere is a Latin verb meaning to kill or to fall, depending on the sense. It is a third-conjugation verb and its principal parts are occīdō, occīdēre, occīdī, occīsus.

In classical Latin it is used transitively with a direct object: hostēs occīdunt “they kill the enemies.” It can also be used intransitively in the sense of “to fall” or “to perish,” as in the expression sol occīdīns?—more commonly rendered as sol occidit, meaning “the sun sets.” The perfect passive participle is occīsus, used in passive constructions such as amīcus occīsus est “a friend has been killed.”

Etymology and derivatives: The present participle occīdēns means “falling” or “setting,” and from this sense the word occidēns can denote the west or the sunset. From the same root derive the noun Occidens (the west, the setting sun) and the modern terms Occident and occidentalis (occidental). The connection between “to fall” and “the sunset” underlies the historical naming of the western world.

Usage today: In modern scholarship and language study, occidere is encountered chiefly in historical, literary, or philological contexts. Its direct English equivalents are kill and fall, but the verb is primarily of classical or linguistic interest. The cognate forms such as Occident and occidental derive from this Latin root and are used in discussions of geography, history, and comparative linguistics.