Where does “Belarus” come from?

Belarus derives from Proto-Slavic bělъ, meaning "white," combined with the country suffix -rus, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European bʰēlHs.

Ancestry of “Belarus”, step by step

Belarus traces back through two separate lines of ancestry.

via French Biélorussie

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1FrenchBiélorussie—
2ItalianBielorussia—
3RussianБелору́ссияsee usage notes
4Old East SlavicБѣла Русь{{w|White Ruthenia}} or White Rus

via Belarusian Белару́сь

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1BelarusianБелару́сь—

Words derived from “Belarus”

Every word from Old East Slavic Бѣла Русь →Every word from Russian Белору́ссия →Every word from Italian Bielorussia →