Where does “fierce” come from?
Fierce comes from Middle English fiers, from Old French fers and fer, from Latin ferus, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European ǵʰwer-.
fierce (English): Exceedingly violent, severe, ferocious, cruel or...
Definitions
- Exceedingly violent, severe, ferocious, cruel or...
Ancestry of “fierce”, step by step
fierce traces back through two separate lines of ancestry.
via Middle English fers
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Middle English | fers | brave, bold |
| 2 | Old English | fers | verse; sentence, title |
| 3 | Latin | versus | turned, changed, having been turned; towards,... |
| 4 | Latin | vertō | to turn, turn oneself, direct one's way, to turn about, turn around, revolve |
| 5 | Proto-Italic | wertō | to turn |
| 6 | Proto-Indo-European | wert- | to turn, to rotate |
| 7 | Proto-Indo-European | wer- | to burn; to cover, heed, notice; squirrel |