Etymology

peacenik

P3E1A1C3E1N1I1K5

Today it means: Someone who publicly opposes armed conflict in general, or a particular conflict, or who publicly opposes the proliferation of weapons. Full definition →

English peace ← Middle English pees ← Anglo-Norman peis
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The story

  1. Proto-Indo-European*peh₂ḱ-
  2. Proto-Indo-European*péh₂ḱs
  3. Proto-Italic*pāks
  4. Latinpāx
  5. Old Frenchpais
  6. Anglo-Normanpeis
  7. Middle Englishpees
  8. Englishpeace
  9. English todaypeacenik

From peace + -nik.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.