chute

fall; fall, drop (e.g. in price); fall, collapse, downfall; ellipsis of chute d'eau waterfall; punch line (conclusion of a joke or a story; the last words that bring the comic effect)

“une chute libre” — a free fall

From a merger of Old French cheüe, chue (from Vulgar Latin *cadūta) and cheoite (from Vulgar Latin cadecta), both feminine past participles of cheoir, whence modern choir (compare chu).