Etymograph

English

armed

Armed comes from English arm ‘to equip with a weapon’.

  1. English1500–presentarm1‘to equip with a weapon’
  2. Englishearliest quotation 1722armed1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English armed
  2. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1722, Daniel Defoe: “a distemper eminently armed from heaven”.

Lineage

  1. English1500–presentarmWiktionary, English armed‘to equip with a weapon’
  2. Englishearliest quotation 1722armedWiktionary, English armed. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1722, Daniel Defoe: “a distemper eminently armed from heaven”

Every English word from English arm

Today it means

adj Equipped, especially with a weapon.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “armed”. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.

Etymograph / English arm / armed

Shirt and support for this word