# fight
## English
### Etymology 1

From Middle English fighten, from Old English feohtan (“to fight, combat, strive”), from Proto-West Germanic *fehtan, from Proto-Germanic *fehtaną (“to comb, tease, shear, struggle with”), from Proto-Indo-European *peḱ- (“to comb, shear”).
Cognate with Scots fecht (“to fight”), West Frisian fjochtsje, fjuchte (“to fight”), Dutch vechten (“to fight”), Low German fechten (“to fight”), German fechten (“to fight, fence”), Swedish fäkta (“to fence, to fight (using blade weapons), to wave vigorously (and carelessly) with one's arms”), Latin pectō (“comb, thrash”, verb), Albanian pjek (“to hit, strive, fight”), Ancient Greek πέκω (pékō, “comb or card wool”, verb). Related also to Old English feht (“wool, shaggy pelt, fleece”).

#### Pronunciation

* enPR: fīt, IPA: /faɪt/
* Audio (Received Pronunciation):(file)
* (US, Canada) IPA: [fʌɪt]
* Audio (General American):(file)
* Rhymes: -aɪt

#### Verb

fight (third-person singular simple present fights, present participle fighting, simple past fought, past participle fought or (archaic) foughten)
* Senses relating to physical conflict:
** (transitive) To engage in combat with; to oppose physically, to contest with.
    My grandfather fought the Nazis in World War II.
** (transitive) To conduct or engage in (battle, warfare, a cause, etc.).
    Our soldiers fought the battle just over that hill.
*** 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, 2 Timothy 4:7:I have fought a good fight.
*** 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, 1 Timothy 6:12:Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art also called, and hast professed a good profession before many witnesses.
*** 1712 (date written), [Joseph] Addison, Cato, a Tragedy. […], London: […] J[acob] Tonson, […], published 1713, →OCLC, Act I, scene i, page 2:His Suff’rings ſhine, and ſpread a Glory round him; Greatly unfortunate, he fights the Cauſe Of Honour, Virtue, Liberty, and Rome.
*** 1856 December, [Thomas Babington] Macaulay, “Samuel Johnson”, in T[homas] F[lower] E[llis], editor, The Miscellaneous Writings and Speeches of Lord Macaulay, new edition, London: Longman, Green, Reader, & Dyer, published 1871, →OCLC:was left to fight his way through the world.
** (intransitive) To contend in physical conflict, either singly or in war, battle etc.
    A wounded animal will fight tooth and nail; relentless, savage and murderous.
** (reciprocal) To contend in physical conflict with each other, either singly or in war, battle etc.
    The two boxers have been fighting for more than half an hour.
** (causative) To cause to fight; to manage or manoeuvre in a fight.
*** 1953, Revd. Waldo E. L. Smith, What Time the Tempest: An Army Chaplain's Story, page 244:And so we made their grave where they should lie Close side by side, as they had fought their tank Through every fight, arm touching arm. We made it deep, that nothing of the conflict they had left above Should break into their peace.
    to fight cocks; to fight one’s ship
* (intransitive) To strive for something; to campaign or contend for success.
    He fought for the Democrats in the last election.
** 1913, Joseph C[rosby] Lincoln, chapter VII, in Mr. Pratt’s Patients, New York, N.Y., London: D[aniel] Appleton and Company, →OCLC:Old Applegate, in the stern, just set and looked at me, and Lord James, amidship, waved both arms and kept hollering for help. I took a couple of everlasting big strokes and managed to grab hold of the skiff's rail, close to the stern. Then, for a jiffy, I hung on and fought for breath.
** 2014 July 5, “Freedom fighter”, in The Economist, volume 412, number 8894:[Edmund] Burke continued to fight for liberty later on in life. He backed Americans in their campaign for freedom from British taxation. He supported Catholic freedoms and freer trade with Ireland, in spite of his constituents’ ire. He wanted more liberal laws on the punishment of debtors.
* (transitive) To try to overpower; to fiercely counteract.
    The government pledged to fight corruption.
** 2014, Ann Aguirre, The Shape of My Heart, page 42:I fought a sneeze as Max took my hand and led me into the chapel.
* (intransitive) Of colours or other design elements: to clash; to fail to harmonize.
** 2013, Ian G. Clifton, Android User Interface Design:The higher the saturation, the more the colors fight, and the more users will be looking at your design instead of your content.

##### Usage notes

* The reciprocal sense of "fight" is a common elision of the phrase "fight each other", since context provides the meaning. "Each other" is commonly used with other verbs for an explicit reciprocal sense.
* The reciprocal sense of "fight", which refers to two entities fighting each other, contrasts with the reflexive sense of the word "infight", which refers to entities of a group fighting each other.

##### Conjugation

$^†$ Archaic or obsolete.

##### Synonyms

* See also Thesaurus:fight

##### Derived terms

* don't fight the tape
* fightability
* fightable
* fight a losing battle
* fight a rearguard action
* fight back
* fight bite
* fight choreography
* fight cocum
* fight dirty
* fight down
* fightest
* fight fires
* fight fire with fire
* fight for one's life
* fight it out
* fight like a married couple
* fight like an old married couple
* fight like cat and dog
* fight like cats and dogs
* fight off
* fight one's corner
* fight one's guts out
* fight out
* fight shy of
* fight the good fight
* fight the tape
* fight the tiger
* fight tooth and nail
* fight to the death
* fight to the finish
* fight up
* fight windmills
* fire-fight
* go down fighting
* infight
* live to fight another day
* never fight a land war in Asia
* outfight
* play fight
* that cock won't fight
* two bald men fighting over a comb
* you can't fight City Hall

##### Descendants

* Sranan Tongo: feti

##### Translations

Afrikaans: stryd (af)
Aghwan: 𐔽𐔰𐕀 (ˁax)
Albanian: luftoj (sq)
Amharic: መዋጋት (mäwagat)
Arabic: عَارَكَ (ʕāraka), قَاتَلَ (ar) (qātala)
Egyptian Arabic: اِتعارك (etʕārek)
Hijazi Arabic: اتضارب (atḍārab)
Iraqi Arabic: تمالخ (tmālaḵ)
Moroccan Arabic: تدابز (tdabəz)
Aramaic:
Syriac: ܟܬܫ (kθaš)
Armenian: կռվել (hy) (kṙvel)
Aromanian: alumtu
Assamese: যুঁজা (zũza)
Asturian: lluchar (ast)
Azerbaijani: döyüşmək (az), vuruşmaq (az), çarpışmaq (az), dalaşmaq
Basque: borrokatu, borroka egin
Belarusian: бі́цца impf (bícca), змага́цца impf (zmahácca), ваява́ць impf (vajavácʹ), баро́цца impf (barócca)
Bulgarian: боря́ се (bg) impf (borjá se), би́я се (bg) impf (bíja se)
Burmese: ရန်ဖြစ် (my) (ranhprac)
Catalan: lluitar (ca), barallar-se (ca)
Chechen: please add this translation if you can
Chickasaw: ittafama
Chinese:
Cantonese: 打交 (yue) (daa$^2$ gaau$^1$)
Eastern Min: 相伐 (soung pa)
Mandarin: 鬥爭 / 斗争 (zh) (dòuzhēng), 戰鬥 / 战斗 (zh) (zhàndòu), 奮鬥 / 奋斗 (zh) (fèndòu)
Czech: bojovat (cs), zápasit, bít se (cs)
Danish: slås, kæmpe
Dutch: strijden (nl), vechten (nl), kampen (nl)
Egyptian: (ꜥḥꜣ)
Esperanto: batali
Estonian: (without weapons) kaklema, (with weapons) võitlema
Finnish: (without weapons) tapella (fi), (with weapons) taistella (fi)
French: se battre (fr), guerroyer (fr) in war
Galician: loitar (gl), lear (gl), punar, estalifar, derrancar (gl), pelexar (gl), gurrar (gl), dedolar, desortir, barallar (gl)
Georgian: ბრძოლა (brʒola), შებრძოლება (šebrʒoleba), ჩხუბი (čxubi)
German: kämpfen (de), fechten (de), streiten (de) (archaic)
Gothic: 𐍅𐌴𐌹𐌷𐌰𐌽 (weihan)
Greek: παλεύω (el) (palévo), μάχομαι (el) (máchomai), πολεμάω (el) (polemáo)
Ancient: μάχομαι (mákhomai)
Hawaiian: hakakā, paio, kaua
Hebrew: רָב (he) (rav), נֶאֱבַק (he) (ne'evák), נִלְחַם (he) (nilkhám)
Hindi: लड़ना (hi) (laṛnā), झगड़ना (hi) (jhagaṛnā)
Hungarian: harcol (hu), verekszik (hu)
Icelandic: slást (is), berjast (is)
Indonesian: kelahi (id), tarung (id)
Inuktitut:
Nunatsiavummiut: pâk
Irish: troid, comhraic, bruíon
Italian: lottare (it), azzuffarsi (it), battersi (it)
Japanese: 喧嘩する (ja) (けんかする, kenka suru), 対決する (ja) (たいけつする, taiketsu suru), 戦う (ja) (たたかう, tatakau), 闘う (ja) (たたかう, tatakau)
Jeju: 쌉다 (ssapda), ᄃᆞ투다 (dawtuda)
Kabuverdianu: briga, brigá
Kashmiri: لَڑُن (laḍun)
Kazakh: төбелесу (töbelesu), ұрысу (ūrysu), күресу (küresu), соғысу (soğysu)
Khiamniungan Naga: vèi-īe
Khmer: វាយតប់ (viəy tɑp)
Kituba: nwana
Korean: 다투다 (ko) (datuda), 싸우다 (ko) (ssauda)
Kurdish:
Central Kurdish: شەڕ کردن (şerr kirdin)
Kyrgyz: согушуу (ky) (soguşuu), урушуу (ky) (uruşuu)
Lao: ຕໍ່ສູ້ (tǭ sū), ຮົບ (hop), ສູ້ (sū)
Latgalian: sistīs, ceikstētīs, veiktīs
Latin: pugnō, dīmicō, luctor
Latvian: cīnīties (lv), kauties
Lithuanian: kautis, muštis (lt), peštis, grumtis
Low German:
German Low German: strieden, fechten, kämpen
Lü: please add this translation if you can
Macedonian: се бори impf (se bori)
Maltese: ġlieda
Maori: kakari, whawhai
Marathi: लढणे (laḍhṇe), लढा देणे (laḍhā deṇe), झुंजणे (jhuñjṇe), झुंज देणे (jhuñja deṇe)
Mongolian: тэмцэх (mn) (temcex)
Neapolitan: luttà
Nepali: लड्नु (laḍnu)
Norman: s'freûler (Jersey)
North Frisian: (Föhr-Amrum) stridj
Norwegian: slåss (no), kjempe (no)
Occitan: luchar (oc)
Odia: please add this translation if you can
Old East Slavic: боротися impf (borotisja)
Old English: feohtan
Oromo: loluu
Persian: مبارزه کردن (fa) (mobâreze kardan), جنگیدن (fa) (jangidan)
Polish: walczyć (pl) impf, bić się (pl) impf
Portuguese: lutar (pt) com, contra (pt)
Romanian: lupta (ro), se bate (ro)
Romansch: lutgar
Russian: дра́ться (ru) impf (drátʹsja), би́ться (ru) impf (bítʹsja), боро́ться (ru) impf (borótʹsja) (wrestle), сража́ться (ru) impf (sražátʹsja) (in a duel or battle), воева́ть (ru) impf (vojevátʹ)
Sanskrit: युध्यते (sa) (yudhyate)
Scots: fecht
Scottish Gaelic: cog, sabaid
Serbo-Croatian:
Cyrillic: борити се impf
Roman: boriti se (sh) impf
Shan: please add this translation if you can
Sinhalese: please add this translation if you can
Slovak: bojovať impf, biť sa
Slovene: boriti se impf
Sorbian:
Lower Sorbian: wójowaś
Spanish: pelear (es), luchar (es), batirse (es)
Sundanese: tarung (su)
Swahili: vita (sw)
Swedish: strida (sv), slåss (sv), kämpa (sv)
Tagalog: awayin, warlahin
Tajik: ҷангидан (jangidan), мубориза кардан (muboriza kardan), мубориза бурдан (tg) (muboriza burdan)
Thai: สู้ (th) (sûu), ต่อสู้ (th) (dtɔ̀ɔ-sûu), รบ (th) (róp)
Tibetan: འཛིང ('dzing), འཁྲུག ('khrug), འཁྲུག་རྩོད་རྒྱག ('khrug rtsod rgyag), རྒྱ་འདྲེ་རྒྱག (rgya 'dre rgyag)
Tocharian B: wät-
Tok Pisin: paitim
Turkish: savaşmak (tr), dövüşmek (tr)
Turkmen: uruşmak
Tuvan: демисежир (demisejir)
Udi: аъхъеъсун (a̱qe̱sun)
Ukrainian: би́тися (uk) impf (býtysja); боро́тися (uk) impf (borótysja), воюва́ти impf (vojuváty)
Urdu: لڑنا (laṛnā), جھگڑنا (jhagaṛnā)
Uyghur: يېغىلاشماق (yëghilashmaq), كۈرەشمەك (küreshmek)
Uzbek: urushmoq (uz), kurashmoq (uz)
Vietnamese: chiến đấu (vi)
Welsh: brwydro (cy)
West Frisian: fjochtsje
White Hmong: please add this translation if you can
Yakut: охсуо (oqsuo)
Yiddish: קעמפֿן (kemfn)
Yoruba: jà
Zealandic: vechte
Zhuang: hoenx :
    The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

### Etymology 2

From Middle English fight, feyght, fiȝt, fecht, from Old English feoht, ġefeoht, from Proto-West Germanic *fehtan, from Proto-Germanic *fehtą, *gafehtą (“fight, struggle”), from Proto-Germanic *fehtaną (“to struggle with”). Cognate with Dutch gevecht, German Gefecht.

#### Noun

fight (countable and uncountable, plural fights)
* An occasion of fighting.
    One of them got stuck in a chokehold and got stabbed to death during the fight.
* (archaic) A battle between opposing armies.
* A physical confrontation or combat between two or more people or groups.
    Watch your language! Are you looking for a fight?
* (sports) A boxing or martial arts match.
    I’m going to Nick’s to watch the big fight tomorrow night.
* A conflict, possibly nonphysical, with opposing ideas or forces; strife.
    I’ll put up a fight to save this company.
** 1963, Margery Allingham, chapter 18, in The China Governess: A Mystery, London: Chatto & Windus, →OCLC:‘Then the father has a great fight with his terrible conscience,’ said Munday with granite seriousness. ‘Should he make a row with the police […] ? Or should he say nothing about it and condone brutality for fear of appearing in the newspapers?
** 2013 August 10, “A new prescription”, in The Economist, volume 408, number 8848:As the world's drug habit shows, governments are failing in their quest to monitor every London window-box and Andean hillside for banned plants. But even that Sisyphean task looks easy next to the fight against synthetic drugs.
* (uncountable) The will or ability to fight.
    That little guy has a bit of fight in him after all. As soon as he saw the size of his opponent, all the fight went out of him.
* (obsolete) A screen for the combatants in ships; an arming.
** 1673 May (first performance), John Dryden, Amboyna. A Tragedy. […], London: […] T[homas] N[ewcomb] for Henry Herringman, […], published 1673, →OCLC, Act III, page 31:Who ever ſaw a noble ſight, / That never view'd a brave Sea Fight: / Hang up your bloody Colours in the Aire, / Up with your Fights, and your Nettings prepare, / Your Merry Mates chear, with a luſty bold ſpright, / Now each Man his brindice, and then to the Fight, […]

##### Synonyms

* See also Thesaurus:fight

##### Derived terms

* armored combat fight
* armoured combat fight
* banyan fight
* bare-knuckle fight
* barfight
* befight
* bitch fight
* bitchfight
* boodle fight
* bossfight
* bottle fight
* bullfight
* bun-fight
* bun fight
* cage fight
* catfight
* cat fight
* chicken fight
* cockfight
* copyfight
* couldn't organise a bun fight in a bakery
* dog-fight
* dogfight
* dog fight
* dog in the fight
* fext
* fightback
* fighter
* fighting
* fight IQ
* fight-or-flight
* fight or flight
* fight scene
* fight shy
* fightsome
* fight song
* fight stick
* fight the good fight
* fight to the death
* fight to the finish
* fightwite
* fightworthy
* fighty
* firefight
* fist-fight
* fist fight, fistfight
* food fight
* footfight
* forfight
* freedom fight
* grog-fight
* gunfight
* handfight
* handy-fight
* have a dog in the fight
* infight
* knife fight
* megafight
* mud fight
* paper fight
* pick a fight
* piefight
* pillow fight
* postfight
* prefight
* prize fight
* prizefight
* put up a fight
* refight
* running fight
* sexfight
* slap fight
* snowball fight
* snowfight
* spoiling for a fight
* straight fight
* streetfight
* street fight
* superfight
* sword fight
* swordfight
* tea fight
* thumb fight
* water fight

##### Descendants

* Sranan Tongo: feti
** → Dutch: fittie
* → Japanese: ファイト (faito)

##### Translations

Afrikaans: geveg
Albanian: betejë (sq) f
Arabic: مَعْرَكَة (maʕraka)
Armenian: մարտ (hy) (mart)
Azerbaijani: döyüş (az)
Basque: gudu, bataila
Belarusian: бі́тва f (bítva), бой m (boj), змага́нне n (zmahánnje), бата́лія f (batálija)
Bulgarian: би́тка (bg) f (bítka), сраже́ние (bg) n (sražénie), бой (bg) m (boj)
Catalan: combat (ca) m
Chinese:
Mandarin: 鬥爭 / 斗争 (zh) (dòuzhēng), 戰鬥 / 战斗 (zh) (zhàndòu)
Czech: bitva (cs) f, boj (cs) m
Danish: kamp (da) c, slag (da) n
Dutch: gevecht (nl) n, strijd (nl) m, slag (nl) m
Egyptian: (ꜥḥꜣ)
Estonian: lahing (et)
Finnish: taistelu (fi)
French: bataille (fr) f
German: Kampf (de) m, Schlacht (de) f, Gefecht (de) n
Greek: μάχη (el) f (máchi)
Ancient: μάχη f (mákhē), δῆρις f (dêris) (Epic)
Hebrew: קְרָב (he) m (kráv)
Hindi: युद्ध (hi) m (yuddh), लड़ाई (hi) f (laṛāī), झगड़ा (hi) m (jhagṛā)
Hungarian: csata (hu), ütközet (hu)
Icelandic: bardagi (is) m
Italian: battaglia (it) f, combattimento (it) m
Japanese: 戦闘 (ja) (せんとう, sentô), 戦い (ja) (たたかい, tatakai)
Kashmiri: جَنٛگ (jang), یۄد (yọd)
Korean: 전투(戰鬪) (ko) (jeontu), 전쟁(戰爭) (ko) (jeonjaeng), 싸움 (ko) (ssaum), 교전(交戰) (ko) (gyojeon)
Kurdish:
Central Kurdish: شەڕ (ckb) (şerr)
Latin: pugna (la)
Latvian: kauja (lv) f, cīņa f
Lithuanian: kova (lt) f, mūšis m
Macedonian: битка f (bitka), бој m (boj)
Marathi: लढाई f (laḍhāī)
Mongolian:
Cyrillic: тэмцэл (mn) (temcel), дайн (mn) (dajn), тулаан (mn) (tulaan)
Mongolian: ᠲᠡᠮᠡᠴᠡᠯ (temečel), ᠳᠠᠶᠢᠨ (dayin), ᠲᠤᠯᠤᠭᠠᠨ (tuluɣan)
Norman: batâle f
Norwegian:
Bokmål: slag (no) n
Old English: ġefeoht n
Ottoman Turkish: صاواش (savaş), ناورد (naverd), پرخاش (perhaş)
Persian: پیکار (fa) (peykâr) (archaic), نبرد (fa) (nabard), مبارزه (fa) (mobâreze)
Pijin: faet
Polish: bój (pl) m, bitwa (pl) f, batalia (pl) f
Portuguese: batalha (pt) f, luta (pt) f, combate (pt) m
Romanian: bătălie (ro) f
Romansch: cumbat m, cumbata f
Russian: би́тва (ru) f (bítva), сраже́ние (ru) n (sražénije), бата́лия (ru) f (batálija)
Sanskrit: युद्ध (sa) n (yuddha)
Scottish Gaelic: cogadh m, sabaid f, blàr m
Serbo-Croatian:
Cyrillic: би̏тка f, бо̀рба f, бо̑ј m
Roman: bȉtka (sh) f, bòrba (sh) f, bȏj (sh) m
Slovak: bitva (sk) f, bitka f, boj m
Slovene: boj (sl) m, bitka (sl) f
Spanish: pelea (es) f, combate (es) m, lucha (es) f, lid (es) f, liza (es) f
Swahili: vita (sw)
Swedish: slag (sv) n, strid (sv) c, kamp (sv) c
Tajik: мубориза (tg) (muboriza)
Tamil: சண்டை (ta) (caṇṭai)
Tarifit: amenɣi m
Tibetan: འཐབ་འཛིང ('thab 'dzing), དམག་འཁྲུག (dmag 'khrug), གཡུལ (g.yul)
Tok Pisin: pait
Turkish: savaş (tr)
Ukrainian: би́тва (uk) f (býtva), бій (uk) m (bij), бойови́ще (uk) n (bojovýšče), бойови́сько (uk) n (bojovýsʹko), бата́лія (uk) f (batálija) :
    The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

## Swedish
### Alternative forms

* fajt

### Etymology

Borrowed from English fight. Attested since 1931.

### Noun

fight c
* (colloquial) a fight (often in sports or of an argument)

#### Related terms

* fightas

### References

* fight in Svensk ordbok (SO)
* fight in Svenska Akademiens ordlista (SAOL)