| accidence |
| Definition - The area of grammar that deals with inflection — i.e., the modifying of a word to show grammatical information, such as possession, tense, or number. |
|
Etymology - The word was coined by misspelling the word accidents, which meant inflections. The latter derives from the Latin accidentia, a grammatical term used by Quintilian. |
|
Oxford English Dictionary - Its first citation is from 1509: "Dame Gramer … taught me ryght well Fyrst my Donet and then my accidence." (Hawes Past. Pleas. (1845) v. ix. 23) |