Where does “terrorism” come from?

Terrorism comes from French terrorisme, formed from Latin terror meaning "fright" (from Proto-Indo-European ter- "to frighten") plus the suffix -isme from Ancient Greek -ισμός.

terrorism (English): The deliberate commission of an act of violence...

Definitions

The deliberate commission of an act of violence...

Ancestry of “terrorism”, step by step

Step	Language	Word	Meaning
1	French	terrorisme	terrorism
2	French	terreur	terror; terrorcore
3	Middle French	terreur	terror
4	Old French	terreur	terror
5	Latin	terror	a dread, terror, great fear, alarm, panic; an...
6	Latin	faciō	—
7	Latin	-torium	nominative neuter singular of -tōrius; accusative...
8	Latin	-tōrius	—
9	Latin	-tor	-er
10	Proto-Italic	-tōr	—
11	Proto-Indo-European	-tōr	Derives agent nouns from verbs, denoting someone...
12	Proto-Indo-European	-tor-s	—

Words derived from “terrorism”

bioterrorism
antiterrorism
cyberterrorism
ecoterrorism
agroterrorism
narcoterrorism
nonterrorism
pharmacoterrorism
Islamoterrorism
cyber-terrorism
theoterrorism
counter-terrorism
テロリズム
terrorizmus
테러리즘

Every word from Proto-Indo-European -tor-s →

terrorism — Etymology, Origin & Word History | Etymology Explorer