Where does “veteran” come from?

Veteran comes from Middle French vétéran, from Latin veteranus meaning an old soldier, derived from Latin vetus meaning old, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European wet-.

veteran (English): A person with long experience of a particular...

Definitions

  1. A person with long experience of a particular...

Ancestry of “veteran”, step by step

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Middle Frenchvétéran—
2Latinveterānusold, veteran
3Latinvetusold, aged, elderly, ancient; long-standing;...
4Latin-tusForms the past participle of verbs; Forms...
5Proto-Italic-tus—
6Proto-Indo-European-tusDerives action nouns from verb roots

Words derived from “veteran”

Every word from Proto-Indo-European -tus →Every word from Latin -tus →Every word from Latin vetus →