Etymology

ceasefire

C3E1A1S1E1F4I1R1E1

Today it means: In warfare, an agreed end to hostilities for a specific purpose. (Typically only temporary). Full definition →

English fire ← Middle English fyr ← Old English fȳr
Ask AI about its historyChatGPTClaudePerplexityGoogle AIGrok

The story

  1. Latincēdō
  2. Latincessō
  3. Middle Frenchcesser
  4. Middle Englishcesen
  5. Englishcease
  6. Proto-Indo-European*péh₂wr̥
  7. Proto-Germanic*fōr
  8. Proto-West Germanic*fuir
  9. Old Englishfȳr
  10. Middle Englishfyr
  11. Englishfire
  12. English todayceasefire

From cease + fire.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.