Etymology

casus belli

Today it means: An act seen as justifying or causing a war; an act of war. Full definition →

Latin cāsus
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The story

  1. Latin · borrowed fromcāsus“occasion”
  2. English todaycasus belli

From Latin cāsus (“occasion”) + bellī (“for war”, literally “of war”).

Words from the same roots

Latincāsus all →

casecasualtycasuistcasuisticscasus foederis

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.