Etymology

civil war

Today it means: A war fought between factions of the inhabitants of a single country, or a similar political entity. Full definition →

Latin bellum cīvīle
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civil war · noun1

  1. Latin · calque ofbellum cīvīle
  2. English todaycivil war

Calque of Latin bellum cīvīle, in English from 1651 in reference to the English Civil War, with possible early use in the 15th and 16th centuries as wer cyuile or ciuill warre. Displaced native Old English inġewinn.

Civil War · proper noun2

Capitalization of civil war.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.