Where does “第三次世界大戦” come from?

第三次世界大戦 (Japanese) comes from Japanese 世界大戦, from Japanese 大戦, from Japanese 大, from Old Japanese 大, from Proto-Japonic əpə — big, large; many.

第三次世界大戦 (Japanese): World War III

Definitions

  1. World War III

Ancestry of “第三次世界大戦”, step by step

第三次世界大戦 traces back through two separate lines of ancestry.

via Japanese 世界大戦

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Japanese世界大戦world war
2Japanese大戦a great war, a great battle
3Japanese大big, large; the large part of; arch-
4Old Japanese大big, large; large
5Proto-Japonicəpəbig, large; many

via Japanese 第三次

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Japanese第三次—
Every word from Proto-Japonic əpə →Every word from Old Japanese 大 →Every word from Japanese 大 →