Etymology Explorer › English

Where does “guerrilla” come from?

Guerrilla comes from Spanish guerrilla, a diminutive of Spanish guerra from Latin guerra, ultimately derived from Proto-Indo-European wer- meaning to turn or twist.

guerrilla (English): A soldier in a small independent group, fighting...

Definitions

  1. A soldier in a small independent group, fighting...

Ancestry of “guerrilla”, step by step

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Spanishguerrillaguerrilla; guerrilla war
2Spanish-illaAdded to feminine nouns to denote a diminutive...
3Old Spanish-iellaA diminutive suffix
4Latin-ellainflection of -ellus: ## nominative/vocative...
5Latin-ellusAlternative form of -ulus; "forming masculine...
6Latin-ulusUsed to form a diminutive of a noun, indicating...
7Proto-Italic-olos—
8Proto-Italic-elos—
9Proto-Indo-European-e-lós—
10Proto-Indo-European-lósForms agent nouns from verbal roots

Words derived from “guerrilla”

  • counterguerrilla
  • antiguerrilla
  • guerrillalike
  • narcoguerrilla
  • nonguerrilla
  • ゲリラ
  • 게릴라
Every word from Proto-Indo-European -lós →