means An organized, armed conflict between nations, states, or groups, usually large-scale and sustained.

from From Old English 'werre,' borrowed via Old North French 'werre' (Modern French 'guerre'), from a Germanic root meaning 'confusion, strife, mess' — possibly related to the source of 'worse.' Tellingly, the Romance languages dropped their inherited Latin word 'bellum' and reached for this Frankish term instead, perhaps because 'bellum' had drifted too close to 'bellus' meaning 'beautiful' — so even the word's history avoids confusing war with anything lovely.