A
motorcade, or
autocade, is a procession of vehicles. The term
motorcade was coined by Lyle Abbot (in 1912 or 1913 when he was automobile editor of the
Arizona Republican), and is formed after
cavalcade on the false notion that "" was a suffix meaning "procession". In fact, there is no such suffix in either French or Latin, although
-cade has now since become a
productive suffix in English, leading to the alternative names
carcade,
autocade, and even
Hoovercade (after
J. Edgar Hoover).
Eric Partridge called the name a "monstrosity", and
Lancelot Hogben considered the word to be a "counterfeit coinage". The original suffix in
cavalcade is actually "".