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Today it means

invade

to enter a country by force

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Where does the word "invade" come from? It comes from Latin invadere, and was adopted directly into English (1400s).

Read the full story

Where does the word "invade" come from? It comes from Latin invadere, and was adopted directly into English (1400s).

Invade’s story begins in Latin: invadere meant “to go into.” 'in-' plus 'vadere', to go, the root of 'evade'. It reached English by 1400s as invade. 'invasion' followed. Today, invade means to enter a country by force.

  1. Stage 1 · Latin · ancient invadere "to go into", 'in-' plus 'vadere', to go, the root of 'evade'.
  2. Stage 2 · English · 1400s invade "to enter by force", 'invasion' followed.

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