Etymology
1. O.E.
feohtan "to fight" (class III strong verb; past tense
feaht, pp.
fohten), from P.Gmc.
*fekhtanan (cf. O.H.G.
fehtan, Du.
vechten, O.Fris.
fiuhta), from PIE
*pek- "to pluck out" (wool or hair), apparently with a notion of "pulling roughly." Spelling substitution of
-gh- for a "y" sound was a M.E. scribal habit, especially before
-t-. The noun is from O.E.
feohte, gefeoht. First use of
fighter for "fast military airplane used for combat" is from 1917.
2. From Middle English fighten (“to fight”), from Old English feohtan (“to fight, combat, strive”), from Proto-West Germanic *fehtan (“to fight”), from Proto-Germanic *fehtaną (“to comb, tease, shear, struggle with”), from Proto-Indo-European *peḱ- (“to comb, shear”).
3. 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”), Danish fægte (“to fence, to fight (using blade weapons)”), Norwegian Bokmål and Norwegian Nynorsk fekte (“to 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”). See: Middle English '
fighten', Old English '
feohtan', Proto-Germanic '
*fehtaną', Scots '
fecht', Dutch '
vechten', Low Saxon 'fechten', German, old spelling '
fechten', Danish '
fægte', Swedish '
fäkta', Latin '
pectō'.
Verbs referencing "fight"
Dutch
vechten, German, old spelling
fechten, Low Saxon fechten, Sranan
feti, Tok Pisin pait, Tok Pisin paitim, Swedish
fäkta, Alemannic German
fëchte, German, Pennsylvania
fechde, Cebuano payt.