Etymology Explorer › English

Where does “bioterrorism” come from?

Bioterrorism derives from English biology (from Ancient Greek βίο- and βίος "life") combined with English terrorism (from Latin terror and -or, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European tre-).

bioterrorism (English): Terrorism that involves biological weapons or...

Definitions

  1. Terrorism that involves biological weapons or...

Ancestry of “bioterrorism”, step by step

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1EnglishterrorismThe deliberate commission of an act of violence...
2Frenchterrorismeterrorism
3Frenchterreurterror; terrorcore
4Middle Frenchterreurterror
5Old Frenchterreurterror
6Latinterrora dread, terror, great fear, alarm, panic; an...
7Latinfaciō—
8Latin-toriumnominative neuter singular of -tōrius; accusative...
9Latin-tōrius—
10Latin-tor-er
11Proto-Italic-tōr—
12Proto-Indo-European-tōrDerives agent nouns from verbs, denoting someone...
13Proto-Indo-European-tor-s—
Every word from Proto-Indo-European -tor-s →