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Origin and history of fierce

fierce(adj.)

mid-13c., "proud, noble, bold, haughty," from Old French fers, fiers, nominative form of fer, fier "strong, overwhelming, violent, fierce, wild; proud, mighty, great, impressive" (Modern French fier "proud, haughty"), from Latin ferus "wild, untamed, uncultivated; waste, desert;" figuratively "wild, uncultivated, savage, cruel" (from PIE root *ghwer- "wild beast").

Meaning "ferocious, wild, savage, cruel" of persons is from c. 1300; of beasts from late 14c. Original English sense of "brave, proud" died out 16c., but while this sense was current fierce often was used in English as an epithet (and thus surname), which accounts for the rare instance of a French word entering English in the nominative case. Related: Fiercely; fierceness. In Middle English sometimes also "dangerous, destructive; great, strong; huge (in number)." An early 15c. medical treatise has fers benes for "wild beans."

also from mid-13c.

Entries linking to fierce

zebra(n.)

African mammal related to the horse and ass, having the body more or less completely striped, c. 1600, from Italian zebra, perhaps via Portuguese, earlier applied to a now-extinct wild ass, a word of uncertain origin, said to be Congolese [OED, 1989], or Amharic [Klein], but perhaps ultimately from Latin equiferus "wild horse," from equus "horse" (see equine) + ferus (see fierce). Related: Zebrine; zebroid.

*ghwer-

Proto-Indo-European root meaning "wild beast."

It might form all or part of: baluchitherium; feral; ferine; ferocious; ferocity; fierce; ther-; Theropoda; treacle.

It might also be the source of: Latin ferus "wild, untamed;" Greek thēr, Old Church Slavonic zveri, Lithuanian žvėris "wild beast."

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    boisterous
    late 15c., boistreous, "rough, coarse," an unexplained alteration of Middle English boistous (c. 1300) "rough, coarse, clumsy, violent," which itself is of unknown origin, perhaps from Anglo-French bustous "rough (road)," itself perhaps from Old French boisteos "curved, lame; une
    rough
    Middle English rough (late 14c.), also rouhe, rouwe, roghe, rugh, etc., from Old English ruh, rug- "not smooth to the touch, coarse (of cloth); hairy, shaggy;" of hides, "undressed, untrimmed;" of ground, "uncultivated." This is from West Germanic *rukhwaz "shaggy, hairy, rough"
    vehement
    early 15c., from Old French vehement, veement "impetuous, ardent" (12c.), from Latin vehementem (nominative vehemens) "impetuous, eager, violent, furious, ardent, carried away," perhaps [Barnhart] from a lost present middle participle of vehere "to carry" (from PIE root *wegh- "t
    rampant
    c. 1300, raumpaunt, "standing on the hind legs" (as a heraldic lion often does), thus, also, "fierce, ravenous" (late 14c...Sense of "growing without check" (in running rampant), is recorded by 1610s, probably is via the notion of "fierce disposition...
    grim
    Old English grimm "fierce, cruel, savage; severe, dire, painful," from Proto-Germanic *grimma- (source also of Old Saxon,...Old Frisian, Old High German, German grimm "grim, angry, fierce," Old Norse grimmr "stern, horrible, dire," Swedish grym..."fierce, furious"), from PIE *ghremno- "angry," which is perhaps imitative of the sound of rumbling thunder (compare Greek...
    ferocity
    Latin ferocitatem (nominative ferocitas) "fierceness," from ferocis, oblique case of ferox "bold, courageous, warlike; fierce...
    pompous
    In 15c. it also could mean "fierce, formidable." Related: Pompously; pompousness....
    furious
    late 14c., "impetuous, unrestrained," from Old French furios, furieus "furious, enraged, livid" (14c., Modern French furieux), from Latin furiosus "full of rage, mad," from furia "rage, passion, fury" (see fury). Furioso, from the Italian form of the word, was used in English 17c
    arbiter
    late 14c., "person who has power of judging absolutely according to his own pleasure in a dispute or issue," from Old French arbitre "arbiter, judge" (13c.) and directly from Latin arbiter "one who goes somewhere (as witness or judge)," in classical Latin used of spectators and e
    sabotage
    1907 (from 1903 as a French word in English), "malicious damaging or destruction of an employer's property by workmen," from French sabotage, from saboter "to sabotage, bungle," literally "walk noisily," from sabot "wooden shoe" (see sabaton). In English, "malicious mischief" wo

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