also postbellum, used in U.S. South from 1874 in reference to American Civil War; Latin; from post "after" (see post-) + bellum "war" (see bellicose).
Entries linking to post-bellum
post-
word-forming element meaning "after," from Latin post "behind, after, afterward," from *pos-ti (source also of Arcadian pos, Doric poti "toward, to, near, close by;" Old Church Slavonic po "behind, after," pozdu "late;" Lithuanian pas "at, by"), from PIE *apo- (source also of Greek apo "from," Latin ab "away from" see apo-).
bellicose adj.
early 15c., "inclined to fighting," from Latin bellicosus "warlike, valorous, given to fighting," from bellicus "of war," from bellum "war" (Old Latin duellum, dvellum), which is of uncertain origin.
The best etymology for duellum so far has been proposed by Pinault 1987, who posits a dim. *duelno- to bonus. If *duelno- meant 'quite good, quite brave', its use in the context of war (bella acta, bella gesta) could be understood as a euphemism, ultimately yielding a meaning 'action of valour, war' for the noun bellum. [de Vaan]
postwar adj.
also post-war, "being or occurring after a (particular) war," 1906, in reference to the U.S. Civil War, a hybrid from post- + war (n.). Compare post-bellum.