Etymology

paramilitary

P3A1R1A1M3I1L1I1T1A1R1Y4

Today it means: A group of civilians trained and organized in a military fashion, but which do not represent the formal forces of a sovereign power. Full definition →

First used 1935English military ← Ancient Greek πᾰρᾰ- (pără-) ← Proto-Hellenic *pərai
Ask AI about its historyChatGPTClaudePerplexityGoogle AIGrok

The story

  1. Proto-Indo-European*per-
  2. Proto-Indo-European*preh₂-
  3. Proto-Hellenic*pərai
  4. Ancient Greekπᾰρᾰ́ (părắ)
  5. Ancient Greekπᾰρᾰ- (pără-)
  6. Englishpara-
  7. Englishmilitary
  8. English todayparamilitary

From para- + military.

First known use, by meaning

  • 1935 Relating to a paramilitary.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.