caer

From Welsh caer.

caer (plural caers)

1. A Welsh fortress.
   • 1892, Grant Allen, Science in Arcady, page 295:

     […] a good many relics of the old Welsh Caers still bespeak the incompleteness of the early Teutonic conquest.

• cair

• e-car, CERA, acer, care, race-, Acre, -care, acre, Cera, Care, Crea, race, Race

caer

1. alternative form of cayer

• “caer”, in Diccionariu de la llingua asturiana [Dictionary of the Asturian Language] (in Asturian), 1st edition, Academy of the Asturian Language [Asturian: Academia de la Llingua Asturiana], 2000, →ISBN
• Xosé Lluis García Arias (2002–2004), “cayer”, in Diccionario general de la lengua asturiana [General Dictionary of the Asturian Language] (in Spanish), Editorial Prensa Asturiana, →ISBN

• caír
• cair (reintegrationist)

Inherited from Old Galician-Portuguese caer, from Late Latin cadēre, from Latin cadĕre. Compare Portuguese cair, Spanish caer, French choir.

• IPA^(key): /kaˈeɾ/ [kɑˈeɾ]
• Rhymes: -eɾ
• Hyphenation: ca‧er

caer (first-person singular present caio, first-person singular preterite caín, past participle caído)

1. (intransitive) to fall, fall off, fall down
2. (of a time) to fall on; to occur
3. to fall; to decline; to collapse
4. to fall; to die in battle

• Seoane, Ernesto Xosé González; Granja, María Álvarez de la; Agrelo, Ana Isabel Boullón (2006–2022), “caer”, in Dicionario de Dicionarios do galego medieval [Dictionary of dictionaries of Medieval Galician] (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
• Barreiro, Xavier Varela; Guinovart, Xavier Gómez (2006–2018), “caer”, in Corpus Xelmírez: corpus lingüístico da Galicia medieval [Corpus Xelmírez: linguistic corpus of Medieval Galicia] (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
• Antón Luís Santamarina Fernández, editor (2006–2013), “caer”, in Dicionario de Dicionarios da lingua galega [Dictionary of Dictionaries of the Galician language] (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
• Antón Luís Santamarina Fernández, Ernesto Xosé González Seoane, María Álvarez de la Granja, editors (2003–2018), “caer”, in Tesouro informatizado da lingua galega (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
• Rosario Álvarez Blanco, editor (2014–2024), “caer”, in Tesouro do léxico patrimonial galego e portugués (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega, →ISSN

Inherited from Old Spanish caer, from Late Latin cadēre, from Classical Latin cadere. Cognate with French choir, Galician caer, Portuguese cair.

• IPA^(key): /kaˈeɾ/ [kaˈeɾ]

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -eɾ
• Syllabification: ca‧er

caer (first-person singular present caigo, first-person singular preterite caí, past participle caído)

1. (intransitive, reflexive) to fall (to move to a lower position due to gravity)
2. (intransitive) to fall (to come down, to drop, to descend)

   La lluvia cae más fuerte que antes.

   The rain is falling heavier than before.

3. (intransitive, reflexive) to fall down, to collapse (to fall to the ground)
4. (intransitive, reflexive) to fall out (to come out of something by falling)

   El pelo dañado puede caerse.

   Damaged hair can fall out.

5. (intransitive) to fall into, to fall for; to be ensnared by

   caer en la trampa ― to fall into the trap

6. (intransitive) to fall into (to enter a negative state)
7. (intransitive) to fall, to collapse (to be overthrown or defeated)

   El imperio romano cayó poco a poco.

   The Roman Empire fell little by little.

8. (intransitive) to get (to understand)

   No caigo. ― I don't get it.

9. (intransitive) to be granted, awarded, or given (potentially by chance)

   Le cayó una multa hoy.

   She got fined today.

   (literally, “A fine fell on her today”)

10. (intransitive) to fall under (to belong to for purposes of categorization)
11. (intransitive) to fall on (to occur on a particular day)
12. (intransitive, reflexive) (e.g. of a website) to go down

• “caer”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8.1, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 15 December 2025
• “caer”, in Diccionario panhispánico de dudas [Panhispanic Dictionary of Uncertainties] (in Spanish), 2nd edition, Royal Spanish Academy; Association of Academies of the Spanish Language, 2023, →ISBN

• acre, arce, cera, crea

• (North Wales) IPA^(key): /kaːɨ̯r/
• (South Wales) IPA^(key): /kai̯r/

From Middle Welsh caer, from Old Welsh cair, from Proto-Brythonic *kaɨr (“fort, fortified town”).

See also Cornish ker (“fort”), Breton kêr (“town, city”). Related to cae (“field”).

caer f (plural caerau or caeroedd or ceyrydd)

1. fort, fortress, enclosed stronghold, castle, fortress, citadel, fortified town or city
2. wall, rampart, bulwark
3. twill

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

• caffer

caer

1. (literary) impersonal imperative of cael

• R. J. Thomas, G. A. Bevan, P. J. Donovan, A. Hawke, et al., editors (1950–present), “caer”, in Geiriadur Prifysgol Cymru Online (in Welsh), University of Wales Centre for Advanced Welsh & Celtic Studies