Etymology Explorer › English

Where does “brigadier” come from?

Brigadier comes from French brigadier, formed from French brigade with the French suffix -er, ultimately derived from Latin -arius, a suffix forming agent nouns.

brigadier (English): An army rank; an officer commanding a brigade;...

Definitions

  1. An army rank; an officer commanding a brigade;...

Ancestry of “brigadier”, step by step

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Frenchbrigadierbrigadier
2Frenchbrigadebrigade
3Middle Frenchbrigade—
4Italianbrigatagroup, party; brigade
5Italian-ataUsed with a stem to form the feminine singular...
6Italian-atoUsed with a stem to form the past participle of...
7Latin-ātus—
8Proto-Italic-ātos—
9Proto-Indo-European-éh₂tos—

Words derived from “brigadier”

  • brigadiership
Every word from Proto-Indo-European -éh₂tos →