English
offensive
Offensive comes from Middle French offendre ‘to attack’, from Latin offendō ‘to hit, thrust, strike against something’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *gʷʰen-.
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*gʷʰen-1‘to strike’reconstructed
- Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*fendō1reconstructed
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CE*fendō1‘hit’reconstructed
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEoffendō2as offendere‘to hit’
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400offendre2‘to attack’
- Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600offendre3‘to attack’
- Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600offensif3
- Englishearliest quotation 1939offensive3
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
- 1 Wiktionary, Latin offendo
- 2 Wiktionary, Middle French offendre
- 3 Wiktionary, English offensive
- Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1939, Lin Yu, The "China Incident": “In Central Hupeh, the Japanese launched another offensive from…”.
Lineage
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*gʷʰen-Wiktionary, Latin offendo‘to strike’reconstructed
- Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*fendōWiktionary, Latin offendoreconstructed
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CE*fendōWiktionary, Latin offendo‘hit’reconstructed
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEoffendōWiktionary, Middle French offendreas offendere‘to hit’
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400offendreWiktionary, Middle French offendre‘to attack’
- Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600offendreWiktionary, English offensive‘to attack’
- Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600offensifWiktionary, English offensive
- Englishearliest quotation 1939offensiveWiktionary, English offensive. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1939, Lin Yu, The "China Incident": “In Central Hupeh, the Japanese launched another offensive from…”
The story
Offendre is from Latin offendere (‘to offend’); see offend.
Word family
English words that share an ancestor with offensive, grouped by the ancestor they share, most familiar first.
through Proto-Indo-European *gʷʰen- ‘to strike, to kill’
through Proto-Italic *fendō
- defendant ← defendaunt ← dēfendō ← *fendō
through Latin *fendō ‘hit, thrust’
20 more relatives in the full family tree
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Today it means
adj Causing offense; arousing a visceral reaction of disgust, anger, hatred, sadness, or indignation.
Sources
Sources: Wiktionary, “offensive”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entries for Latin offendo, Middle French offendre. 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 *gʷʰen- / offensive