Other forms: crusades
A crusade was a medieval religious war fought far from home. The First Crusade, go on crusade, the crusades.
There were numbered ones between 1095 and 1291, and they failed in their aim while reshaping trade and knowledge between Europe and the east. The word now also means any campaign pursued with moral fervour, which is usually a criticism. Note the cross behind the name.
1nouncrusadeA medieval religious war.
“The knight left his castle to fight in a crusade in the Holy Land.”
2nouncampaignA campaign pursued with moral fervour.
“The journalist began a crusade against child labour in the clothing industry.”
crusade is a war or campaign.
French croisade comes from Spanish cruzada, from cruz, a cross, from Latin crux. The fighters wore a cross.
Medieval Latin
cruciāta
Middle French
croisade
French
croisade
English, today
crusade
From French croisade, introduced into English (in the French spelling) by 1575. The modern spelling emerges 1760. Middle French croisade is introduced in the 15th century, based on Spanish cruzada (late 14th century) and Old Occitan crozada (early 13th century), both reflecting Medieval Latin cruciāta, cruxiata, the feminine singular of the adjective cruciātus used as an abstract noun. Adjectival cruciātus originally meant "tormented; crucified", but from the 12th century crucesignatus was also used for "marked with a cross; making the sign of the cross" and eventually "taking the cross" in the sense of "going on a crusade". Old Occitan crozada is used in the sense "[the Albigensian] crusade" in the Song of the Albigensian crusade, written c. 1213. From vernacular usage, Middle Latin cruciāta also comes to be used in the sense "crusade" from about 1270.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA
Practised in History & Eras