Senescence
/sɪˈnɛsəns/noun
The process of growing old or aging.
Did you know?Senescence comes from the same Latin root as “senate,” because both trace back to *senex*, meaning “old man” or “old age” — authority and aging were linguistically tied together from the start.
Etymological Timeline
Proto-Indo-European
PIE
*sen-
“to be old”
Latin
Latin
senex
“old man; old, aged”
Classical Latin
Latin
senescentia
“growing old; the process of becoming old”
Late Middle English
English
senescence
“the state or process of growing old”
Modern English
English
senescence
“the process of aging or declining with age”