Etymology

civil

C3I1V4I1L1

Today it means: Having to do with people and government office as opposed to the military or religion. Full definition →

Middle English cyvyl ← Old French civil ← Latin cīvīlis
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The story

  1. Latin · derived fromcīvīlis“relating to a citizen”
  2. Old French · derived fromcivil
  3. Middle English · inherited fromcyvyl
  4. English todaycivil

From Middle English cyvyl, civil, borrowed from Old French civil, from Latin cīvīlis (“relating to a citizen”), from cīvis (“citizen”) ultimately from proto-Indo-European *ḱey-. Cognate with Old English hīwen (“household”), hīrǣden (“family”). More at hind; hird. (polite): Compare typologically urbane (<< Latin urbs), courteous (akin to court).

Words from the same roots

Latincīvīlis all →

civilist

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.