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belligerent

buh-LIJ-er-uhnt · adjective

LatinEnglish

Origin

From Latin belligerans, the present participle of belligerō, "to wage war," itself built from belliger, "waging war," a fusion of bellum ("war") and -ger, from gerō ("to lead, wage, carry on").

Journey

The word entered English already carrying its participial sense of actively waging war, so its core meaning has stayed close to that Latin root.

Related words

Because -ger comes from gerō, "to carry on or wage," this word shares that root with any English term built on the same idea of carrying something through — though the facts here only confirm gerō's link within belliger itself.

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From Latin

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