civil war

See also: Civil War

English

Etymology

Calque of Latin bellum cīvīle, in English from 1651 in reference to the English Civil War, with possible early use in the 15th and 16th centuries as wer cyuile or ciuill warre. Displaced native Old English inġewinn.

Pronunciation

• Audio (US):

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Noun

civil war (plural civil wars)

2. A war fought between factions of the inhabitants of a single country, or a similar political entity.
   • 1712 (date written), [Joseph] Addison, Cato, a Tragedy. […], London: […] J[acob] Tonson, […], published 1713, →OCLC, Act I, scene i, page 1:

     Our Father’s Death
     Would fill up all the Guilt of Civil War,
     And cloſe the Scene of Blood.

   • 2008, BioWare, Mass Effect, Redwood City: Electronic Arts, →ISBN, →OCLC, PC, scene: Turians: The Unification War Codex entry:

     At about the time the salarians and asari were forming the Council, the turians were embroiled in a bitter civil war. The Unification War, as it was later named, began with hostilities between the colonies furthest from the turian homeworld, Palaven.

   • 2015, Shane R. Reeves, David Wallace, “The Combatant Status of the “Little Green Men” and Other Participants in the Ukraine Conflict”, in International Law Studies, US Naval War College‎^[1], volume 91, number 361, Stockton Center for the Study of International Law, page 393:

     The “little green men”—faces covered, wearing unmarked olive uniforms, speaking Russian and using Russian weapons—have played a significant role in both the occupation of Crimea and the civil war in eastern Ukraine.¹⁹⁶

   • 2022 September 6, Arwa Mahdawi, “No doomsday bunker, not a single gun – if the US really is heading for civil war, I’m stuffed”, in The Guardian‎^[2]:

     Civil war is now casually discussed on cable TV shows in between ads for haemorrhoid creams and car insurance.

Synonyms

• intestine war

Derived terms

• Civil War

Translations

war between factions within a single country

• Afrikaans: burgeroorlog (af) sg
• Albanian: luftë civile f
• Arabic: حَرْب أَهْلِيَّة f (ḥarb ʔahliyya)
• Armenian: քաղաքացիական պատերազմ (hy) (kʻaġakʻacʻiakan paterazm)
• Assamese: গৃহযুদ্ধ (grihozuddho)
• Assyrian Neo-Aramaic: ܩܪܵܒ݂ܵܐ ܡܕܝܼܢܵܝܵܐ m (qrāḇā mdīnāyā)
• Asturian: guerra civil f
• Azerbaijani: vətəndaş müharibəsi
• Bashkir: граждандар һуғышы (grajdandar huğışı)
• Basque: gerra zibil
• Belarusian: грамадзя́нская вайна́ f (hramadzjánskaja vajná)
• Bengali: গৃহযুদ্ধ (bn) (grihojuddho)
• Bulgarian: гра́жданска война́ f (gráždanska vojná)
• Burmese: ပြည်တွင်းစစ် (my) (pranytwang:cac)
• Buryat: эрхэтэнэй дайн (erxetenej dajn)
• Catalan: guerra civil f
• Chechen: гражданийн тӏом (graždaniı̇n tʼom)
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 內戰 / 内战 (noi⁶ zin³)

  Hokkien: 內戰 / 内战 (zh-min-nan) (lōe-chiàn / lāi-chiàn)

  Mandarin: 內戰 / 内战 (zh) (nèizhàn), 內亂 / 内乱 (zh) (nèiluàn), 國內戰爭 / 国内战争 (guónèi zhànzhēng), 內潰 / 内溃 (nèikuì)

• Chuvash: граждан вӑрҫи (graždan vărś̬i)
• Czech: občanská válka (cs) f
• Danish: borgerkrig (da) c
• Dutch: burgeroorlog (nl) m, burgerkrijg m
• Egyptian: (ḏꜣjs)
• Erzya: потмонь тюрема (potmoń ťuŕema), кудонь тюрема (kudoń ťuŕema)
• Esperanto: enlanda milito, interna milito, intercivitana milito, civila milito, interfrata milito (bookish)
• Estonian: kodusõda
• Faroese: borgarakríggj (fo) n
• Finnish: sisällissota (fi)
• French: guerre civile (fr) f, guerre intestine f
• Galician: guerra civil f
• Georgian: სამოქალაქო ომი (samokalako omi)
• German: Bürgerkrieg (de) m
• Greek: εμφύλιος πόλεμος (el) m (emfýlios pólemos)

  Ancient: ἐμφύλιος πόλεμος m (emphúlios pólemos)

• Gujarati: આંતરવિગ્રહ (āntarvigrah)
• Hawaiian: kaua kūloko
• Hebrew: מִלְחֶמֶת אֶזְרָחִים f (milkhémet ezrakhím)
• Hindi: गृहयुद्ध (hi) m (gŕhyuddh)
• Hungarian: polgárháború (hu)
• Icelandic: borgarastyrjöld f, borgarastríð n
• Indonesian: perang saudara (id)
• Interlingua: guerra civil
• Irish: cogadh cathartha m
• Italian: guerra civile (it) f
• Japanese: 内戦 (ja) (ないせん, naisen), 内乱 (ja) (ないらん, nairan)
• Kannada: ಅಂತಃಕಲಹ (kn) (antaḥkalaha)
• Kazakh: азаматтық соғыс (azamattyq soğys), азамат соғысы (azamat soğysy)
• Khmer: សង្គ្រាមក្នុងស្រុក (sɑngkriəm knong srok)
• Korean: 내전(內戰) (ko) (naejeon), 내란(內亂) (ko) (naeran)
• Kurdish:

  Northern Kurdish: şerê navxweyî (ku)

• Kyrgyz: жарандык согуш (jarandık soguş)
• Lao: ສົງ​ຄາມ​ກາງ​ເມືອງ (lo) (song khām kāng mư̄ang)
• Latin: bellum cīvīle n, bellum intestīnum n
• Latvian: pilsoņu karš m
• Lithuanian: pilietinis karas m
• Luxembourgish: Biergerkrich m
• Macedonian: граѓанска војна f (graǵanska vojna)
• Malay: perang saudara (ms)
• Malayalam: ആഭ്യന്തരയുദ്ധം (ābhyantarayuddhaṁ)
• Maori: kaiākiri
• Marathi: यादवी युद्ध (yādvī yuddha), गृहयुद्ध (gŕhyuddha)
• Mongolian:

  Cyrillic: иргэний дайн (irgenii dajn)

• Newar: गृह हताः (gr̥ha hatā:)
• Norman: dgèrre civile f
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: borgerkrig m

  Nynorsk: borgarkrig m

• Occitan: guèrra civila f
• Old English: inġewinn n
• Ossetian: мидхӕст (midxæst)
• Pashto: کورنۍ جګړه f (koranëy jëgëṛa)
• Persian:

  Iranian Persian: جَنْگِ داخِلی (jang-e dâxeli), خانِه‌جَنْگی (xâne-jangi), جَنْگِ شَهْرْوَنْدی (jang-e šahrvandi)

• Polish: wojna domowa (pl) f
• Portuguese: guerra civil (pt) f
• Punjabi: ਖ਼ਾਨਾਜੰਗੀ (xānājaṅgī)
• Romanian: război civil (ro) n
• Russian: гражда́нская война́ (ru) f (graždánskaja vojná)
• Scottish Gaelic: cogadh sìobhalta m
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: грађански рат m

  Roman: građanski rat m

• Slovak: občianska vojna f
• Slovene: državljanska vojna (sl) f
• Spanish: guerra civil (es) f
• Swahili: vita vya wenyewe kwa wenyewe
• Swedish: inbördeskrig (sv) n
• Tagalog: digmaang sibil, bayanhing digmaan
• Tajik: ҷанги шаҳрвандӣ (jang-i šahrvandi), ҷанги гражданӣ (jang-i graždani), чанги дохилӣ (čang-i doxili)
• Tamil: உள்நாட்டுப் போர் (uḷnāṭṭup pōr)
• Tatar: ватандашлар сугышы (watandaşlar suğışı), гражданнар сугышы (grajdannar suğışı)
• Telugu: పౌర యుద్ధం (paura yuddhaṁ)
• Thai: สงครามกลางเมือง (sǒng-kraam-glaang-mʉʉang)
• Turkish: iç savaş (tr)
• Turkmen: halk gozgalaňy
• Ukrainian: громадя́нська війна́ f (hromadjánsʹka vijná)
• Urdu: خانَہ جَن٘گی f (xāna jaṅgī)
• Uyghur: ئىچكى ئۇرۇش (ichki urush)
• Uzbek: fuqarolar urushi, ichki urush
• Vietnamese: nội chiến (vi) (內戰)
• Welsh: rhyfel cartref
• Yiddish: בירגער קריג m (birger krig), בירגער־מלחמה f (birger milkhome), ציווילע קריג m (tsivile krig)