*SET-U

English word origin

Etymology of rebel

From Middle English rebel, rebell, from Old French rebelle, from Latin rebellis (“waging war again; insurgent”), from rebellō (“to wage war again, fight back”), from re- (“again, back”) + bellō (“to wage war”).

2 source sectionsExtended source reportWiktionary original ↗
In this entry · 2 source sections

The source etymologies

Wiktionary via Kaikki / Wiktextract

The source reports below are imported and unreviewed by *SET-U. Separate numbered origins and differing source variants are preserved; agreement within this extraction is not independent corroboration.

Source etymology 1

Original entry ↗
noun

A person who resists an established authority, often violently. · Synonym of Confederate: a citizen of the Confederate States of America, especially a Confederate soldier.

Selected source glosses provide context, not a complete modern definition inventory

From Middle English rebel, rebell, from Old French rebelle, from Latin rebellis (“waging war again; insurgent”), from rebellō (“to wage war again, fight back”), from re- (“again, back”) + bellō (“to wage war”).

Relationships mentioned by the source

These are extracted mentions, not a timeline or a verified sequence of immediate parents.

Inspect preserved source fields

Raw extraction fields are retained for auditing. Their order does not establish ancestry.

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  "templates": [
    {
      "name": "inh",
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "enm",
        "3": "rebel"
      },
      "expansion": "Middle English rebel"
    },
    {
      "name": "der",
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "fro",
        "3": "rebelle"
      },
      "expansion": "Old French rebelle"
    },
    {
      "name": "der",
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "la",
        "3": "rebellis",
        "4": "",
        "5": "waging war again; insurgent"
      },
      "expansion": "Latin rebellis (“waging war again; insurgent”)"
    }
  ],
  "links": [
    [
      "rebel",
      "rebel#Middle_English"
    ],
    [
      "rebell",
      "rebell#Middle_English"
    ],
    [
      "rebelle",
      "rebelle#Old_French"
    ],
    [
      "rebellis",
      "rebellis#Latin"
    ],
    [
      "rebellō",
      "rebello#Latin"
    ],
    [
      "re-",
      "re-#Latin"
    ],
    [
      "bellō",
      "bello#Latin"
    ]
  ],
  "references": [],
  "descendants": [],
  "lexical": [
    {
      "pos": "noun",
      "glosses": [
        "A person who resists an established authority, often violently.",
        "Synonym of Confederate: a citizen of the Confederate States of America, especially a Confederate soldier."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "US",
        "historical"
      ],
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  }
}

Source etymology 2

Original entry ↗
verb

To resist or become defiant toward an authority. · To forcefully subvert the law of the land in an attempt to replace it with another form of government.

Selected source glosses provide context, not a complete modern definition inventory

From Middle English rebellen, from Old French rebeller, from Latin rebellō (“to wage war again, fight back”), from re- (“again, back”) + bellō (“to wage war”). Doublet of revel.

Relationships mentioned by the source

These are extracted mentions, not a timeline or a verified sequence of immediate parents.

Inspect preserved source fields

Raw extraction fields are retained for auditing. Their order does not establish ancestry.

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  "templates": [
    {
      "name": "inh",
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "enm",
        "3": "rebellen"
      },
      "expansion": "Middle English rebellen"
    },
    {
      "name": "der",
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "fro",
        "3": "rebeller"
      },
      "expansion": "Old French rebeller"
    },
    {
      "name": "der",
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "la",
        "3": "rebellō",
        "4": "",
        "5": "to wage war again, fight back"
      },
      "expansion": "Latin rebellō (“to wage war again, fight back”)"
    },
    {
      "name": "doublet",
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "revel"
      },
      "expansion": "Doublet of revel"
    }
  ],
  "links": [
    [
      "rebellen",
      "rebellen#Middle_English"
    ],
    [
      "rebeller",
      "rebeller#Old_French"
    ],
    [
      "rebellō",
      "rebello#Latin"
    ],
    [
      "re-",
      "re-#Latin"
    ],
    [
      "bellō",
      "bello#Latin"
    ],
    [
      "revel",
      "revel#English"
    ]
  ],
  "references": [],
  "descendants": [],
  "lexical": [
    {
      "pos": "verb",
      "glosses": [
        "To resist or become defiant toward an authority.",
        "To forcefully subvert the law of the land in an attempt to replace it with another form of government."
      ],
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}

Where this record stops

This page does not supply an independently verified sound-change sequence, first-use manuscript or complete family tree unless a cited analysis explicitly establishes one. Missing detail here is a limit of this record—not a claim that humanity knows nothing more.

An older meaning does not determine what a word must mean today. Follow the sources, preserve disagreements, and keep ancestry separate from interpretation.

Contribute located evidence for rebel →

Source and snapshot

Imported from Wiktionary contributors; extracted by Tatu Ylonen / Wiktextract / Kaikki.org. Selected fields are reformatted and grouped; wording, source identity and etymology sections are retained. CC-BY-SA-4.0 applies to the imported source material.

Dump: 2026-10-01 · Extracted: 2026-10-30. These are snapshot dates, not the word’s first attestation or the page’s revision date.

Source entry and bibliography ↗Wiktionary revision history ↗Acquisition and rights ledger
Machine-source provenance
Source SHA-256
5ff2c072f8099f2d2ce484bd6957bf179f046d2ad37bc36555edf8bb84cb5291
Import run
73216b9a9b78ed3830994bf853103716f5a4dc57099e371e9f8fdc468facca26
Permanent entry ID
w-cmViZWw