Meaning

adjective occurring without interruption; chiefly restricted to what recurs regularly or frequently in a prolonged and closely spaced series

adjective `continual' (meaning seemingly uninterrupted) is often used interchangeably with `continuous' (meaning without interruption)

originFrom Middle English continuel, from Old French continuel, formed from Latin continuus (“continuous”) with the suffix -el, equivalent to continue + -al.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 3.0