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START / NODE 147Present-Day English1580–today
hostile
Enemy-like or antagonistic, borrowed through French and Latin from hostīlis, built on Latin hostis “stranger; enemy.”
“Hospitality and hostility share a stranger. The semantic split is not a pun: both histories reach the reconstructed reciprocal outsider *ghos-ti-.”OPEN COMPLETE WORD DOSSIER ↗
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01
PARENT ROUTES1 REVIEWED RELATIONSHIP
Present-Day Englishhostile
of an enemy; antagonistic, adverse, or unfriendly
↑GO DEEPER
Middle French · Middle Frenchhostilehostile or enemy-like
- SOUND CHANGE
- English hostile was borrowed through Middle French while also drawing directly on Latin hostīlis.
- SEMANTIC CHANGE
- The enemy-related adjective entered English without a major semantic shift.
- SCHOLAR
- Merriam-Webster editors
- CONFIDENCE
- established — The source identifies both Middle French and Latin; the displayed route preserves French transmission without excluding learned Latin influence.
- CHRONOLOGY
- First known use: 1580.
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