Etymograph

English

battailous

Battailous comes from Old French bataillos, from bataille ‘battle’, and perhaps ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *bʰedʰh₂- ‘to stab, dig’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*bʰedʰh₂-1‘to stab, dig’uncertain
  2. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEbattuō2‘to beat’
  3. Late Latinc. 200–600 CEbattālia2
  4. Old Frenchc. 842–1400bataille3‘battle’
  5. Old Frenchc. 842–1400bataillos3
  6. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500bataylous3‘Prepared for war’
  7. Englishearliest quotation 1590battailous3

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, Latin battuo
  2. 2 Wiktionary, Old French bataille
  3. 3 Wiktionary, English battailous
  4. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1590, Edmund Spenser, Book I, Canto V: “He started vp, and did him selfe prepaire, /…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*bʰedʰh₂-Wiktionary, Latin battuo‘to stab, dig’uncertain
  2. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEbattuōWiktionary, Old French bataille‘to beat’
  3. Late Latinc. 200–600 CEbattāliaWiktionary, Old French bataille
  4. Old Frenchc. 842–1400batailleWiktionary, English battailous‘battle’
  5. Old Frenchc. 842–1400bataillosWiktionary, English battailous
  6. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500bataylousWiktionary, English battailous‘Prepared for war’
  7. Englishearliest quotation 1590battailousWiktionary, English battailous. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1590, Edmund Spenser, Book I, Canto V: “He started vp, and did him selfe prepaire, /…”

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *bʰedʰh₂- ‘to stab, dig’

bed, fossil, 12 more

through Latin battuō ‘to beat’

combat, battery, bat, batten, 5 more

through Old French bataille ‘battle’

battle, 2 more

Today it means

adj Warlike, battle-ready.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “battailous”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entries for Latin battuo, Old French bataille. 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 / Proto-Indo-European *bʰedʰh₂- / battailous

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