Etymology

duress

du·ress
D2U1R1E1S1S1

Today it means: Harsh treatment. Full definition →

Middle English duresse ← Old French duresse ← Latin dūritia
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The story

  1. Latin · derived fromdūritia“hardness”
  2. Old French · derived fromduresse
  3. Middle English · inherited fromduresse
  4. English todayduress

Inherited from Middle English duresse, from Old French duresse, from Latin dūritia (“hardness”), from dūrus (“hard”).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.