Etymology

guerrilla

guer·ril·la
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Today it means: A soldier in a small independent group, fighting against the government or regular forces by surprise raids. Full definition →

Spanish guerrilla ← Early Medieval Latin werra ← Frankish *werʀ
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The story

  1. Proto-Indo-European*wers-
  2. Proto-Germanic*werzaną
  3. Proto-West Germanic*werʀan
  4. Frankish*werʀ
  5. Early Medieval Latinwerra
  6. Spanishguerra
  7. Spanishguerrilla
  8. English todayguerrilla

Borrowed from Spanish guerrilla, diminutive of guerra (“war”), coined during the Peninsular War.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.