World War II

English

Etymology

From world war +‎ two. The term was used for a hypothetical future war as early as 1919. It was first applied to the 1939–45 war in a Time article dated 11 September 1939.

Pronunciation

• enPR: wûrld wôr to͞o, IPA^(key): /ˌwɜː(ɹ)ld ˌwɔː(ɹ) ˈtuː/
  • (UK) [ˌwɜːɫd ˌwɔː ˈtuː]
  • (US) [ˌwɝɫd ˌwɔɚ̯ ˈtu]

• Audio (US):

  (file)

Proper noun

World War II

1. (history) The war from 1939 to 1945 of the Allied forces, including the United Kingdom, the Soviet Union, the United States, France, and China, against the Axis Powers, including Germany, Italy, and Japan.

   Synonyms: Second World War, World War 2, WW2, WWII

   • 1939 November 10, “Following The War”, in The Chart‎^[1], volume I, number 1, Joplin, Missouri: Joplin Junior College, page 4, column 1:

     As students all over the United States knuckle down to learning, the rumble of war drums once more proclaims Mars high man in Europe. Discarding morbid curiosity, every student should consider it vitally necessary to get a general picture of the causes, movements, and possible effects of World War II. The average U. S. citizen's knowledge of World War II will probably decide his role in it.

   • 1941 March, Frederick M. Barrows, “The War in Africa”, in Command and General Staff School Military Review‎^[2], volume XXI, number 80, →OCLC, page 23, column 1:

     Nothing since the beginning of World War II, a year ago last September, has boosted British morale or given them greater courage to fight on as has this brilliant Libyan campaign.

   • 2005 May 23, Gavriel D. Rosenfeld, The World Hitler Never Made: Alternate History and the Memory of Nazism‎^[3], Cambridge University Press, →ISBN, page 182:

     If Demandt's essay served as a strident example of the German desire for normalcy, a more subtle example was provided by a brief allohistorical depiction of a Nazi victory in World War II written by German historian Michael Salewski in 1999.

   • 2023 March 25, Damien Cave, “An Anxious Asia Arms for a War It Hopes to Prevent”, in The New York Times‎^[4], →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 25 March 2023‎^[5]:

     The tiny island of Tinian was the launch point for American planes carrying atomic bombs to Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945. Now a new runway is being carved from the jungle, just south of World War II ruins inked with mildew.

   • For more quotations using this term, see Citations:World War II.

Usage notes

• World War II is the most common among the synonyms.

Hyponyms

• Eastern Front
• European War
• (primarily in a Soviet or Russian context) Great Patriotic War
• Pacific War
• War in the Pacific

Related terms

• world war
• World War I
• World War III
• World War IV

Translations

war from 1939 to 1945

• Afrikaans: Tweede Wêreldoorlog
• Albanian: Lufta e Dytë Botërore f
• Arabic: الْحَرْبُ الْعَالَمِيَّةُ الثَّانِيَة f (al-ḥarbu l-ʕālamiyyatu ṯ-ṯāniya)
• Armenian: երկրորդ համաշխարհային պատերազմ (erkrord hamašxarhayin paterazm)
• Azerbaijani: İkinci Dünya Müharibəsi
• Basque: Bigarren Mundu Gerra
• Belarusian: Друга́я сусве́тная вайна́ f (Druhája susvjétnaja vajná)
• Bengali: দ্বিতীয় বিশ্বযুদ্ধ (ditiẏo biśśojuddho)
• Bulgarian: вто́ра свето́вна война́ f (vtóra svetóvna vojná)
• Burmese: ဒုတိယကမ္ဘာစစ် (du.ti.ya.kambhacac)
• Catalan: Segona Guerra Mundial f
• Cebuano: Ikaduhang Gubat Kalibotanon
• Chechen: Шолгӏа дуьненан тӏом (Šolğa dünenan tʼom)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 第二次世界大戰 / 第二次世界大战 (zh) (dì'èrcì shìjiè dàzhàn)

• Crimean Tatar: Ekinci Cian cenki
• Czech: druhá světová válka f
• Danish: anden verdenskrig c, 2. verdenskrig c
• Dutch: Tweede Wereldoorlog (nl) m
• Esperanto: Dua Mondmilito
• Estonian: Teine maailmasõda
• Finnish: toinen maailmansota (fi)
• French: Seconde Guerre mondiale (fr) f, Deuxième Guerre mondiale (fr) f
• Galician: Segunda Guerra Mundial
• Georgian: მეორე მსოფლიო ომი (meore msoplio omi)
• German: Zweiter Weltkrieg (de) m
• Greek: Β΄ Παγκόσμιος Πόλεμος (el) m, Δεύτερος Παγκόσμιος Πόλεμος (el) m (Défteros Pagkósmios Pólemos)
• Hebrew: מִלְחֶמֶת הָעוֹלָם הַשְּׁנִיָּה \ מלחמת העולם השנייה f
• Hindi: द्वितीय विश्व युद्ध m (dvitīya viśva yuddh), द्वितीय महायुद्ध m (dvitīya mahāyuddh)
• Hungarian: második világháború (hu)
• Icelandic: seinni heimsstyrjöldin, síðari heimsstyrjöldin, heimsstyrjöldin síðari
• Ilocano: Maikadua a Sangalubongan a Gubat
• Indonesian: Perang Dunia Kedua (id)
• Interlingua: Secunde Guerra Mundial c
• Irish: Dara Cogadh Domhanda m
• Italian: Seconda guerra mondiale f
• Japanese: 第二次世界大戦 (ja) (だいにじせかいたいせん, dainiji sekai taisen)
• Kannada: ಎರಡನೇ ಮಹಾಯುದ್ಧ (eraḍanē mahāyuddha)
• Kazakh: Екінші дүниежүзілік соғыс (Ekınşı düniejüzılık soğys)
• Khmer: សង្គ្រាមលោកលើកទី២ (sɑngkriəm look ləək tii pii)
• Korean: 제2차 세계 대전 (je2cha segye daejeon), 제이차 세계 대전(第二次世界大戰) (jeicha segye daejeon)
• Kurdish:

  Northern Kurdish: Şerê Cîhanî yê Duyem (ku)

• Kyrgyz: Экинчи дүйнөлүк согуш (Ekinci düynölük soguş)
• Lao: ສົງຄາມໂລກຄັ້ງທີສອງ (song khām lōk khang thī sǭng)
• Latin: secundum bellum mundiale n, secundum bellum mundanum n
• Latvian: Otrais pasaules karš m
• Lithuanian: Antrasis pasaulinis karas m
• Luxembourgish: Zweete Weltkrich (lb) m
• Macedonian: Втора светска војна f (Vtora svetska vojna), II светска војна f (II svetska vojna)
• Malay: Perang Dunia Kedua (ms)
• Maltese: It-Tieni Gwerra Dinjija
• Maori: Pakanga Tuarua o te Ao
• Marathi: दुसरे विश्व युद्ध n (dusre viśva yuddha)
• Mongolian:

  Cyrillic: дэлхийн хоёрдугаар дайн (delxiin xojordugaar dajn)

• Navajo: naaki góneʼ yéigo daʼahijoogą́ą́ʼ
• Nepali: please add this translation if you can
• Norman: Deuxième Dgèrre Mondiale f
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: andre verdenskrig (no) m

  Nynorsk: andre verdskrigen m

• Occitan: Dusava Guèrra Mondiala f, Dusau Guèrra Mondiau f, Segonda Guèrra Mondiala f, Segonda Guèrra Mondiau f
• Pashto: دويمه نړېواله جګړه f
• Persian:

  Dari: جَنْگِ جَهَانِیِ دُوُم (jang-i jahānī-yi duwum)

  Iranian Persian: جَنْگِ جَهانیِ دُوُّم (jang-e jahâni-ye dovvom)

• Polish: druga wojna światowa (pl) f, II wojna światowa (pl) f
• Portuguese: Segunda Guerra Mundial f
• Romanian: Al Doilea Război Mondial n
• Russian: Втора́я мирова́я война́ (ru) f (Vtorája mirovája vojná)
• Scottish Gaelic: Dara Cogadh Mòr m
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: Drugi svetski rat m, Drugi svjetski rat m

  Roman: Други светски рат m, Други свјетски рат m

• Slovak: druhá svetová vojna f
• Slovene: druga svetovna vojna f
• Somali: please add this translation if you can
• Spanish: Segunda Guerra Mundial (es) f
• Swahili: Vita Kuu ya Pili ya Dunia
• Swedish: andra världskriget (sv) n
• Tagalog: Ikalawang Digmaang Pandaigdig (tl)
• Tajik: ҷанги ҷаҳонии дувум (jang-i jahoni-yi duvum)
• Tamil: இரண்டாம் உலகப் போர் (iraṇṭām ulakap pōr)
• Tatar: икенче дөнья сугышы (ikençe dön’ya suğışı)
• Telugu: రెండవ ప్రపంచ యుద్ధము (reṇḍava prapañca yuddhamu)
• Thai: สงครามโลกครั้งที่สอง (sǒng-kraam-lôok-kráng-tîi-sɔ̌ɔng)
• Tibetan: འཛམ་གླིང་འཁྲུག་ཆེན་གཉིས་པ་ ('dzam gling 'khrug chen gnyis pa)
• Turkish: İkinci Dünya Savaşı (tr), 2. Dünya Savaşı (tr)
• Turkmen: ikinji jahan urşy
• Ukrainian: Дру́га світова́ війна́ f (Drúha svitová vijná)
• Urdu: جَن٘گِ عَظِیمِ دُوَم f (jaṅg-i 'azīm-i duvam), دُوسْری عالَمی جَن٘گ f (dūsrī 'ālamī jaṅg)
• Uyghur: ئىككىنچى دۇنيا ئۇرۇشى (ikkinchi dunya urushi)
• Uzbek: Ikkinchi Jahon Urushi

  Cyrillic: Иккинчи Жаҳон Уруши (Ikkinchi Jahon Urushi)

• Vietnamese: Chiến tranh thế giới thứ hai (vi), Đệ nhị thế chiến
• Volapük: volakrig telid
• Welsh: Yr Ail Ryfel Byd
• West Frisian: Twadde Wrâldkriich
• Yiddish: צווייטע וועלט מלחמה f (tsveyte velt milkhome)

Further reading

• “World War II”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.
• “World War II”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.
• “World War II”, in The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th edition, Boston, Mass.: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2016, →ISBN.
• “World War II”, in Collins English Dictionary.
• “World War II” (US) / “World War II” (UK) in Macmillan English Dictionary.
• World War II, Second World War, World War 2, WW2, WWII at the Google Books Ngram Viewer.
• World War II on Wikipedia.Wikipedia