combatant

1560s, "to fight, struggle, contend" (intransitive), from French combat (16c.), from Old French combattre (12c.), from Late Latin combattere, from Latin com "with (each other)," see com-, + battuere "to beat, fight" (see batter (v.)). Transitive sense is from 1580s; figurative sense from 1620s. Related: Combated; combating; combatted; combatting.

also noncombatant, "one connected with a military or naval force other than as a fighter" (surgeons, surgeons mates, pursers, secretaries, chaplains, etc.), 1799, from non- + combatant. A word from the Napoleonic wars. Gradually extended by 1820s to "a civilian in time of war."