Where does “defender” come from?
Defender comes from Anglo-Norman defendour, from Old French -our, from Latin defendere meaning to ward off or protect, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European de.
defender (English): someone who defends people or property; one of...
Definitions
- someone who defends people or property; one of...
Ancestry of “defender”, step by step
defender traces back through two separate lines of ancestry.
via Middle English defenden
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Middle English | defenden | defend |
| 2 | Old French | défendre | to defend |
| 3 | Latin | dēfendō | to drive away |
| 4 | Latin | dē- | of; from |
| 5 | Latin | dē | of; concerning; about |
| 6 | Latin | post | behind; after, since, besides, except; behind,... |
| 7 | Latin | poste | ablative singular of postis |
| 8 | Proto-Italic | posti | behind, after |
| 9 | Proto-Indo-European | pósti | after |
| 10 | Proto-Indo-European | pós | afterwards, post; by, at |