Etymology

coerce

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Today it means: To restrain by force, especially by law or authority; to repress; to curb. Full definition →

Latin coërceō
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The story

  1. Latin · derived fromcoërceō“to surround, encompass, restrain, control, curb”
  2. English todaycoerce

From Latin coërceō (“to surround, encompass, restrain, control, curb”), from co- (“together”) + arceō (“to inclose, confine, keep off”).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.