tyrant

The story

1. Ancient Greek · derived fromτύραννος“usurper, monarch, despot”
2. Latin · derived fromtyrannus“despot”
3. Old French · derived fromtyrant
4. Middle English · inherited fromtyraunt
5. English todaytyrant

From Middle English tyraunt, tiraunt, tyrant, tyrante, from Old French tyrant, from the addition of a terminal -t to tiran (cp. French tyran) via a back-formation related to the development of French present participles out of the Latin -ans form, from Latin tyrannus (“despot”), from Ancient Greek τύραννος (túrannos, “usurper, monarch, despot”), of uncertain origin.

Words from the same roots