-cade
A procession or show.
[The last syllable of cavalcade.]
Cavalcade, a formal procession of people on horseback or in (originally horse-drawn) vehicles, derives from Latin caballus, horse. The ending is actually -ade, but was wrongly analyzed. A few words have been formed on its model, mostly in the US, such as aquacade (Latin aqua, water), a spectacle involving swimming and diving, and motorcade, a procession of motor vehicles. Temporary formations also appear: camelcade, tractorcade.
Visit Michael Quinion’s World Wide Words site for 2000+ articles on English!
Copyright © Michael Quinion 2008–. All rights reserved. Page last updated 23 September 2008.
Your comments and suggestions on the site are very welcome.