English
bellicose
Bellicose comes from Latin bellicosus ‘warlike, fierce, bellicose’, and goes back to bellicum.
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEbellicum
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEbellicosus‘warlike, fierce, bellicose’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500bellicose
- Englishearliest quotation 1996bellicose
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
Earlier history uncertain.
Lineage
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEbellicum
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEbellicosus‘warlike, fierce, bellicose’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500bellicose
- Englishearliest quotation 1996bellicose
Earliest quotation: 1996, James Pringle, Peking sends out mixed signals: “CHINA sent both bellicose and conciliatory signals yesterday as…”
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *dewh₂- ‘to fit’
down, town, tool, teen, dynamic, dynasty, tow, dun, dynamo, tine, dynastic, taw, 91 more
through Proto-Italic *dwenos ‘good’
bona, benefice, beauteous, beaucoup, 34 more
through Archaic Latin duenos
ben, bonus, optimal, beneficial, bonnie, optimism, boon, beneficiary, bonny, bene, bonbon, 34 more
through Old Latin *duenelos
beautiful, beauty, boo, beau, rebellion, rebellious, beal, bello, bauble, rebelling, 16 more
through Old Latin duellum
Today it means
adj Warlike or combative in nature; aggressively hostile.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Latin bellicum / bellicose