Blockade comes from block + -ade (on the model of French -ade / Spanish -ada), formed in the 17th century. Block derives from Middle Dutch or Old French bloc ('log, tree trunk'), of Germanic origin. The historical trail runs through bloc in Old French and blok in Middle Dutch. Morphologically, blockade is transparent: it draws on block + -ade (on the model of French -ade / Spanish -ada), formed in the 17th century. Used as a noun and verb, blockade now means "the sealing off of a place to prevent goods or people entering or leaving", so the present definition can be read against the older forms and meanings. The same lexical family is also visible in derived forms such as blockader and blockading and related forms such as block. The result is a borrowed or transmitted form whose modern spelling carries a compact record of its route into English.