The name, mentioned in 1155 as Bazzelstorf and maybe yet in the early 11th century as Basselstorff,[3] is a compound consisting of dorf, a widespread constituent in alemannic placenames meaning ‚hamlet, farm, village, estate‘, and the genitive form of an anthroponym, probably OHG *Bazzilo (or its feminine Bacila, documented in the Abbey of St.

Due to its position halfway between the towns of Zürich and Winterthur, the village gained some importance as a relay during the 18th and 19th centuries.

In 2001, Crossair Flight 3597 crashed into the ground at Bassersdorf while on approach to land at Zurich Airport.

[5] The investigation concluded that the accident was a controlled flight into terrain (CFIT) caused by a series of pilot errors and navigation mistakes that led the plane off-course.

This course deviation caused the plane to crash into a hilltop, 4.05 km (2.52 mi) short of and 150 m (490 ft) north of its assigned landing strip, runway 28.

Of the rest of the land, 26.3% is settled (buildings or roads) and the remainder (0.3%) is non-productive (rivers, glaciers or mountains).