decrepid
English edit
Etymology edit
decrepit with alteration of the suffix by analogy with -id (from Latin -idus).
Adjective edit
decrepid (comparative more decrepid, superlative most decrepid)
Usage notes edit
- Decrepid was a common alternative spelling of decrepit until the 1820s, gradually declining in usage as spelling became standardized, until by the 1920s it was 40 times rarer than decrepit.[1] Some orthographic works were advising against decrepid, calling it a misspelling, by the mid to late 19th century.[2][3]
References edit
- ^ Google Books Ngrams (1559-2019); close up on 1909-2019, smoothed and with decrepid*40
- ^ John Walker, Townsend Young, A Critical Pronouncing Dictionary of the English Language (1854), page 143: DECREPIT, de-krepit, a. Wasted or worn out with age. This word is frequently mispronounced and misspelled decrepid.
- ^ William Henry Pinkney Phyfe, Five Thousand Words Often Misspelled (1894): "decrepit. Sometimes incorrectly written decrepid."