Etymology Explorer › English

Where does “fight” come from?

Fight comes from Middle English fighten, from Old English feohtan, from Proto-West Germanic fehtan, from Proto-Germanic fehtaną, ultimately from the Proto-Indo-European root peḱ-.

fight (English): To contend in physical conflict, either singly or...

Definitions

  1. To contend in physical conflict, either singly or...

Ancestry of “fight”, step by step

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Middle EnglishfightenSimple past faght and past participle foghten...
2Old Englishfeohtanto fight
3Proto-West Germanicfehtanto fight
4Proto-Germanicfehtanąto comb, detangle; to struggle , fight; to shear
5Proto-Indo-Europeanpeḱ-to pluck; livestock; wealth

Words derived from “fight”

  • firefight
  • gunfight
  • bullfight
  • fistfight
  • dogfight
  • cockfight
  • catfight
  • fighteth
  • outfight
  • swordfight
  • fightback
  • prefight
  • refight
  • postfight
  • fightest
  • fightable
  • bunfight
  • fighty
  • dogfighter
  • unfightable
  • barfight
  • streetfight
  • snowfight
  • sexfight
Every word from Proto-Indo-European peḱ- →