Etymology: < French -ade (found from the 15th cent. as a productive suffix in French, earlier only in borrowings from other Romance languages) and perhaps partly also < its etymons Old Occitan -ada, Spanish -ada, and Italian -ata, all of which are ultimately < Latin -āta -ate suffix1, the regular development of which in French is -ée (see -y suffix5).This ending is found in Old French in borrowings such as balade < Old Occitan balada (see ballad n.). Formations within French are found from the 15th cent., e.g. œillade oeillade n., arquebusade arquebusade n., and (probably) palissade palisade n., and become more frequent in the 16th cent. In a few instances remodelling of earlier words in -ée also occurred, e.g. accolade accolade n. superseding earlier acolee acolee n. Found in English from the late 14th and early 15th centuries in borrowings and adaptations, e.g. ballade n., crustade n., herbelade n., sambocade n., juncade n., pomade n.1, peverade n. Some early borrowings apparently either show remodelling of French words in -ée , or borrowing directly from other Romance languages. Compare also earlier pionade n., pinionade n., panade n.1, although these are all rather problematic. Some borrowed words in -ade suffix show considerable variation in the form and spelling of the ending (compare e.g. marmalade n., ambassade n., cascade n.), although in some cases this may reflect multiple inputs. In the case of ballad n. and salad n. the form in -ad is the usual modern form. Words in -ade suffix sometimes show spellings in -ado in early use, just as, conversely, words in -ado suffix sometimes show spellings in -ade . In some cases, such as brocade n. and renegade n., the spelling in -ade has become usual for a word that etymologically shows -ado suffix. Entirely new formations within English are found from the end of the 17th cent., but are comparatively rare: compare e.g. blockade n., fascinade n., processionade n., braggade n., carronade n., raspberryade n., gingerade n., Ruskinade n. The ending -ade also occurs in some words borrowed from French which ultimately show (etymologically unrelated) Greek -αδ- -ad suffix1, e.g. decade n., nomade n.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2011; most recently modified version published online March 2021).