Where does “menace” come from?
Menace comes from Old French manecier, from Latin minax meaning threatening, ultimately derived from Proto-Indo-European men-.
menace (English): A perceived threat or danger; The act of...
Definitions
- A perceived threat or danger; The act of...
Ancestry of “menace”, step by step
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Middle English | manace | A perceived threat or danger |
| 2 | Old French | menace | — |
| 3 | Latin | minācia | threat |
| 4 | Latin | mināx | projecting; overhanging; jutting out |
| 5 | Latin | -āx | ish, -y |
| 6 | Latin | -ium | Suffix used to form abstract nouns, sometimes... |
| 7 | Latin | -ius | forming adjectives from nouns; nominative neuter... |
| 8 | Proto-Italic | -jōs | Forms comparative adjectives |
| 9 | Proto-Indo-European | -yós | Creates adjectives from noun or verb stems |