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echelon (n.)
1796, echellon, "step-like arrangement of troops," from French échelon "level, echelon," literally "rung of a ladder," from Old French eschelon, from eschiele "ladder," from Late Latin scala "stair, slope," from Latin scalae (plural) "ladder, steps," from PIE *skand- "to spring, leap" (see scan (v.)). Sense of "level, subdivision" is from World War I.
updated on July 31, 2014
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Dictionary entries near echelon
eccentricity
Ecclesiastes
ecclesiastic
ecclesiastical
ecdysiast
echelon
echidna
echinoderm
echo
echoic
echolalia