Where does “mutual assured destruction” come from?
mutual assured destruction (English) comes from English mutual, from Middle French mutuel, from Latin mūtuus, from Latin muto, from Latin -ium, from Latin -ius, from Proto-Italic -jōs, from Proto-Indo-European -yós — Creates adjectives from noun or verb stems.
mutual assured destruction (English): The threat of massive retaliation using nuclear...
Definitions
- The threat of massive retaliation using nuclear...
Ancestry of “mutual assured destruction”, step by step
mutual assured destruction traces back through two separate lines of ancestry.
via English mutual
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | English | mutual | Having the same relationship, each to each other;... |
| 2 | Middle French | mutuel | mutual |
| 3 | Latin | mūtuus | borrowed, lent |
| 4 | Latin | muto | I move, remove; I alter, change, modify,... |
| 5 | Latin | -ium | Suffix used to form abstract nouns, sometimes... |
| 6 | Latin | -ius | forming adjectives from nouns; nominative neuter... |
| 7 | Proto-Italic | -jōs | Forms comparative adjectives |
| 8 | Proto-Indo-European | -yós | Creates adjectives from noun or verb stems |
via English assured
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | English | assured | simple past tense and past participle of assure;... |