commando [ L18th] In early use commando was a word for an armed unit of Boer horsemen in South Africa. During the Second World War the name was adopted to describe troops specially trained to repel the threatened German invasion of England. The word came into English from Portuguese, but is based on Latin commandare ‘to command’ from com- (giving emphasis) and mandare ‘commit, command, entrust’, which goes back to manus ‘hand’ and dare ‘to give’. To go commando is to wear no underpants, although the reason for this is unclear. This curious phrase dates back to the 1980s and probably originated as American college slang, although it was popularized by its use in an episode of the 1990s TV comedy Friends. Also from South Africa, commandeer [E19th] from Afrikaans kommandeer goes back via Dutch to French commander. Command itself came into use in Middle English, taken from the Latin via French. From the same root come remand [LME] ‘command back’; commend [ME], formed in the same way as command, but with the sense ‘entrust’ and recommend [LME]; and demand [ME] ‘command formally’.