pacifist

Etymology

It is borrowed from French pacifiste,^[2][3][4][5] which was formed with -iste on pacifisme,^[3][4] a word apparently coined in 1901 by the anti-war writer Émile Arnaud from pacifique,^[2] from Latin pācificus (“peaceful, peace-making”), from pāx (“peace”) and faciō (“to make”).^[2] The French noun is recorded from 1903 or earlier and the adjective from 1907.^[6] The OED, revised in 2005, finds an isolated English adjective in 1717 and takes the word as formed from the stem of pacific with -ist, in later use after the French word.^[6] Weekley called it a clumsily formed word for which the correct form would be pacificist,^[7] and Klein explains it as a shortening of that form by haplology.^[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

A supporter of pacifism: 1906, in The Times, as the noun is dated by the OED;^[6][9] Etymonline dates it to 1903,^[2] and Dictionary.com to 1905–10.^[5] An isolated adjective meaning "peaceful, peace-making" is recorded in a letter of 1717.^[6]

Semantic evolution

The word spread with pacifism, borrowed from French in 1902,^[2] and became a name for those who reject war as a means of settling disputes.^[6][9] The adjective, relating to or supporting pacifism, is dated to 1908,^[3][9] and the derivative pacifistic to 1902.^[2] It is also used specifically of a conscientious objector who refuses military service.^[3][10][11]

Timeline

• 1717 – adjective, peaceful, peace-making (an isolated record).^[6]
• 1906 – noun, a supporter of pacifism.^[6][9] Etymonline dates the noun to 1903.^[2]
• 1908 – adjective, relating to or supporting pacifism.^[3][9]

Meanings

Noun

1. A person who holds that war and violence are wrong and that disputes should be settled peacefully; a supporter of pacifism.^{[3][10][6][11]}
2. A person who refuses to bear arms or to do military service, a conscientious objector.^[3][10]

Adjective

1. Relating to, supporting or characterized by pacifism: a pacifist pamphlet.^[3][10][6]

Word family

• pacifistically
• antipacifist
• nonpacifist
• unpacifist

Related words

• pacify
• pacific
• pacifism
• peace
• pacificist

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ a b c d e f g h Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ a b Gove, Philip Babcock, ed. (1961), Webster's Third New International Dictionary of the English Language, Unabridged, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam
5. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
8. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
9. ^ a b c d e Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
10. ^ a b c d Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
11. ^ a b Garner, Bryan A., ed. (2004), Black's Law Dictionary, 8th ed., St. Paul, Minn.: Thomson West