Etymology

mercenary

mer·ce·na·ry
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Today it means: One motivated by gain, especially monetary. Full definition →

Middle English mercenarye ← Latin mercēnārius
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The story

  1. Latin · derived frommercēnārius“hired for money”
  2. Middle English · inherited frommercenarye“someone paid to work, hireling”
  3. English todaymercenary

From Middle English mercenarye (“someone paid to work, hireling”), from Latin mercēnārius (“hired for money”), from mercēs (“reward, wages, price”).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.