Etymology

suzerain

su·ze·rain
S1U1Z10E1R1A1I1N1

Today it means: A dominant nation or state that has control over the international affairs of a subservient state which otherwise has domestic autonomy. Full definition →

French suzerain ← Latin sursum
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The story

  1. Latin · derived fromsursum
  2. French · derived fromsuzerain
  3. English todaysuzerain

From French suzerain, based on sus (“up, above”) (from Latin sursum) with the ending of souverain (whence also English sovereign).

Words from the same roots

Latinsursum all →

sursum-

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.