An armistice is a formal agreement to stop fighting. Sign the armistice, Armistice Day, the armistice held.
It stops the fighting without settling the war, which a peace treaty does — the Korean War has had an armistice since 1953 and no treaty at all. The 1918 one took effect at eleven on the eleventh of November, which is why the silence is held then.
1nounarmisticeA formal agreement to stop fighting.
“The two countries signed an armistice, and the guns finally fell silent.”
armistice is an agreement.
Latin armistitium joins arma, weapons, and sistere, to halt — a standing still of arms.
Proto-Indo-European
*h₂er-
Latin
armistitium
English, today
armistice
Built from
From Latin armistitium, from Latin arma (“arms, weapons”) + sistēre (from sistō (“to halt, stand still”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European steh₂- (“to stand up”)) + -ium. The word is cognate with French armistice, Italian armistizio, Portuguese armistício, Spanish armisticio.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA