Etymology

melee

M3E1L1E1E1

Today it means: A battle fought at close range, (especially) one not involving ranged weapons; hand-to-hand combat; brawling.; CQC; CQB Full definition →

French mêlée ← Old French meslee ← Latin misceō
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The story

  1. Latin · derived frommisceō“mix”
  2. Old French · derived frommeslee
  3. French · borrowed frommêlée
  4. English todaymelee

Borrowed from French mêlée, from Old French meslee, feminine past participle of mesler (“to mix”), derived from Latin misceō (“mix”). Doublet of medley.

Words from the same roots

Latinmisceō all →

melangemeddle

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.