Etymology

nation

N1A1T1I1O1N1

Today it means: A historically constituted, stable community of people, formed based on a common economic life, ethnicity, language, religion, and/or territory, and manifested in a common culture. Full definition →

Middle English nacioun ← Old French nacion ← Latin nātiō
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nation · noun1

  1. Proto-Indo-European*ǵenh₁-
  2. Proto-Indo-European*ǵénh₁tis
  3. Proto-Italic*gnātiō
  4. Latinnātiō
  5. Old Frenchnacion
  6. Middle Englishnacioun
  7. English todaynation

From Middle English nacioun, nacion, from Old French nacion, from Latin nātiōnem, accusative of nātiō (“nation”). Displaced Old English þēod and Old English cynewīse.

nation · noun, adverb, adjective2

Short for damnation or tarnation.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.