Crusader

How to spell crusader

8 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce crusader

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does crusader mean?

1. nounA person who fights vigorously for a cause or belief, or a medieval soldier who fought in the Crusades.

Crusader in a sentence

• She became a tireless crusader for better hospital funding.

• The journalist built a reputation as an anti-corruption crusader.

Where does crusader come from?

Language of origin: Latin

The word traces back to the Latin crux, meaning 'cross', which gave the medieval Latin form cruciata for a military expedition fought under the banner of the cross. From there it passed into the Romance languages, surfacing as the Spanish cruzada and the French croisade, both naming the campaigns launched from the eleventh century onward to seize the Holy Land. English absorbed 'crusade' in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, reshaping the spelling under French influence, and then formed 'crusader' by adding the agent suffix -er to name the person taking part. Over time the sense broadened well beyond warfare, so that today a crusader is anyone who campaigns passionately for a cause. The same crux root still lives openly in 'crucial', 'crucify', and 'excruciating', which is a handy reminder that the heart of the word is the cross.

How the word is built

• crus- (from Latin crux: cross)
• -ade (action/group suffix)
• -er (one who does)