Wars have often introduced new words into English. Words that were once military jargon broaden their meanings and become commonly used in everyday civilian speech. Listed below are a few of the military words which entered English from World War I.
Ace:
The word “ace” entered English about 1300 from the Old French “as”. Both the original English and the Old French meant “one at dice.” Going back further in time, the Latin “as” meant “a unit of one” and was also the name of a small Roman coin. Latin may have picked up the word from Etruscan. It is also related to the Greek “eis” meaning “one.”
World War I marks the first time that motorized aircraft were used in combat. Mounted with machine guns, airplanes would engage in aerial combat. When a pilot had shot down a certain number of enemy planes—5 according to some accounts, 10 according to others—he was designated as an ace. The term “ace” was then extended to mean “outstanding pilot.” Following the war, “ace” became used to designate that someone was good at something, such as ace reporter, ace photographer, and so on.
Chowhounds:
The noun “chow” came into American English in California in 1856 from the Chinese pidgin English “chow-chow,” which was based on the Chinese “cha” meaning mixed. “Chow” was adopted by U.S. military jargon meaning “food” during the Civil War. During World War I, hungry soldiers standing in line for chow became known as chowhounds.
Civvies:
Military personnel generally wear uniforms which indicate military branch, rank, and so on. During World War I, British soldiers began referring to civilian dress as “civvies” and the term was soon picked up by the Americans.
Dog tag:
During the Civil War soldiers would pin a piece of paper with their name written on it on their uniform so that their body could be identified if they were killed. During World War I, the military issued metal tags stamped with personal information which was to be worn around the neck on a chain. The soldiers referred to these as dog tags because of their resemblance to what would be used to identify canines at home.
Dud:
During World War I, the term “dud” referred to a bomb that failed to go off. Following the war it was used to refer to anything or anyone that failed to meet expectations. The word comes from the seventeenth century word “dudde” which meant “rags.” By 1825, “dud” was used to describe a person in ragged clothing and then by 1897 its meaning extended to a “counterfeit thing” and by 1908 to a “useless person or thing.” Since an unexploded bomb was useless, it was a dud.