Etymology Explorer › English

Where does “major” come from?

Major comes from French major, from Latin maior meaning "greater," from the Proto-Indo-European root meǵh₂- meaning "great" or "large."

major (English): A military rank between captain and lieutenant...

Definitions

  1. A military rank between captain and lieutenant...

Ancestry of “major”, step by step

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Frenchmajormajor, the upper rank of French non-commissioned...
2Latinmāior—
3Latinmagnuslarge, big; great; important
4Proto-Indo-Europeanmeǵh₂-big, great; great; big, stour, great

Words derived from “major”

  • semimajor
  • nonmajor
  • majorly
  • majorette
  • majorization
  • majorship
  • midmajor
  • supermajor
  • submajor
  • majorize
  • minimajor
  • majorise
  • major junior
  • comajor
  • major prophet
  • majoretting
  • majorizability
  • majorizable
  • majorizer
  • submajorization
  • мажоретка
  • meja
  • manjo
Every word from Proto-Indo-European meǵh₂- →