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Origin and history of void

void(adj.)

c. 1300, "unoccupied, vacant, without contents, empty," from Anglo-French and Old French voide, viude "empty, vast, wide, hollow, waste, uncultivated, fallow," as a noun, "opening, hole; loss," from Latin vocivus "unoccupied, vacant," related to vacare "be empty." This is reconstructed to be from PIE *wak-, an extended form of root *eue- "to leave, abandon, give out."

The meaning "lacking or wanting" (something), "being without, devoid" (now usually with of) is recorded from late 14c. The meaning "legally invalid, without legal efficacy" is attested from c. 1400.

void(n.)

late 14c., voide, "nothingness, the void. the empty expanse of space; from void (adj.). By 1610s as "an unfilled or unoccupied space, gap;" by 1727 as "absolute empty space, vacuum." By 1779 as "a sense of something lost or lacking, unsatisfied desire."

void(v.)

"to clear or rid" (some place, of something), c. 1300, voiden, "empty (something) of contents," from Anglo-French voider, Old French vuider "to empty, drain; to abandon, evacuate," from voide (see void (adj.)).

The meaning "to deprive (something) of legal validity" is attested from early 14c. That of "discharge through a natural vent or orifice" is by late 14c., especially in medical use, "purge; defecate; vomit." Related: Voided; voiding; voidance.

also from c. 1300

Entries linking to void

voidable(adj.)

"capable of being voided" in any sense, late 15c., from void (v.) + -able.

*eue-

*euə-, Proto-Indo-European root meaning "to leave, abandon, give out," with derivatives meaning "abandoned, lacking, empty."

It might form all or part of: avoid; devastation; devoid; evacuate; evanescent; vacant; vacate; vacation; vacuity; vacuole; vacuous; vacuum; vain; vanish; vanity; vaunt; void; wane; want; wanton; waste.

It might also be the source of: Sanskrit una- "deficient;" Avestan va- "lack," Persian vang "empty, poor;" Armenian unain "empty;" Latin vacare "to be empty," vastus "empty, waste," vanus "empty, void," figuratively "idle, fruitless;" Old English wanian "to lessen," wan "deficient;" Old Norse vanta "to lack."

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    vacancy
    1570s, "a vacating;" c. 1600, "state of being vacant," from Late Latin vacantia, from Latin vacans "empty, unoccupied," present participle of vacare "be empty," from PIE *wak-, extended form of root *eue- "to leave, abandon, give out." From 1690s as "a vacant office or post;" mea
    vacuum
    1540s, "emptiness of space," from Latin vacuum "an empty space, vacant place, a void," noun use of neuter of vacuus "empty, unoccupied, devoid of," figuratively "free, unoccupied," from Proto-Italic *wakowos, related to the source of Latin  vacare "to be empty" (from PIE *wa
    evacuate
    early 15c., in medicine (Chauliac), evacuaten "expel (humors) from the body" (transitive), from Latin evacuatus, past participle of evacuare "to empty, make void, nullify," used by Pliny in reference to the bowels, used figuratively in Late Latin for "clear out;" from assimi
    vain
    c. 1300, "devoid of real value, idle, unprofitable," from Old French vain, vein "worthless, void, invalid, feeble; conceited..." (12c.), from Latin vanus "empty, void," figuratively "idle, fruitless," from PIE *wano-, suffixed form of root *eue- "to...
    quash
    .); "to make void, annul, nullify, veto" (mid-14c.), from Old French quasser, quassier, casser "to annul, declare void,"...and directly from Medieval Latin quassare, alteration of Late Latin cassare, from cassus "null, void, empty" (from extended...
    chaos
    late 14c., "gaping void; empty, immeasurable space," from Old French chaos (14c.) or directly from Latin chaos, from Greek...1600) is an extended sense from theological use of chaos in the Vulgate version of "Genesis" (1530s in English) for "the void...
    inanity
    directly from Latin inanitas "emptiness, empty space," figuratively "worthlessness," noun of quality from inanis "empty, void...
    eliminate
    1560s, "to thrust out, remove, throw out of doors," from Latin eliminatus, past participle of eliminare "thrust out of doors, expel," from ex limine "off the threshold," from ex "off, out" (see ex-) + limine, ablative of limen "threshold" (see limit (n.)). Used literally at first
    change
    c. 1200, "to alter, make different, change" (transitive); early 13c. as "to substitute one for another;" mid-13c. as "to make (something) other than what it was, cause to turn or pass from one state to another;" from late 13c. as "to become different, be altered" (intransitive),
    modify
    late 14c., modifien, "alter, amend, adjust, change the properties, form, or function of;" also "set limits, keep within the bounds of reason; choose a middle course," from Old French modifier (14c.), from Latin modificare "to limit, measure off, restrain," from modus "measure, ma

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