civil suit vs lawsuit

civil suit and lawsuit both are nouns.

Word	Noun	Adjective	Verb	Adverb
civil suit	Yes	No	No	No
lawsuit	Yes	No	No	No

As nouns, lawsuit is a hypernym of civil suit; that is, lawsuit is a word with a broader meaning than civil suit:

civil suit: a lawsuit alleging violations of civil law by the defendant
lawsuit: a comprehensive term for any proceeding in a court of law whereby an individual seeks a legal remedy

Other hypernyms of civil suit include case, causa, cause, suit.

civil suit (noun)	lawsuit (noun)
a lawsuit alleging violations of civil law by the defendant	a comprehensive term for any proceeding in a court of law whereby an individual seeks a legal remedy