Etymology

hostile

H4O1S1T1I1L1E1

Today it means: Not friendly; appropriate to an enemy; showing the disposition of an enemy; showing ill will and malevolence or a desire to thwart and injure. Full definition →

Middle French hostile ← Latin hostīlis
Ask AI about its historyChatGPTClaudePerplexityGoogle AIGrok

The story

  1. Latin · derived fromhostīlis
  2. Middle French · borrowed fromhostile
  3. English todayhostile

Borrowed from Middle French hostile, from Latin hostīlis, from hostis (“enemy”). Displaced Old English fēondlīċ.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.