The word 'void' entered English in the 13th century from the Old French 'voide', meaning "empty, vast, uncultivated". This Old French term descended from the Vulgar Latin 'vocitus', a variant of the classical Latin 'vacuus', which carried the core sense of "empty" or "free from". The Latin 'vacuus' itself is derived from the verb 'vacare', meaning "to be empty". The semantic journey is direct and logical: from the physical state of being empty or unoccupied in Latin, the word evolved in French and English to encompass abstract and legal senses of emptiness, such as the absence of legal force or the act of nullifying something, thereby creating a void.

The word 'void' is a simplex word borrowed from Anglo-French. Its ultimate origin is the Latin adjective 'vocivus' or 'vacuus', meaning "empty, unoccupied, free". The direct source in English is the Old French 'voide' or 'vuit'.