different between combat vs fighting

English

Etymology

Borrowed from French, from Old French combatre, from Vulgar Latin *combattere, from Latin com- (“with”) + battuere (“to beat, strike”).

Pronunciation

• Noun:
  • (UK) IPA^(key): /?k?m?bæt/
  • (US) IPA^(key): /?k?m?bæt/
• Verb:
  • (UK) IPA^(key): /?k?m?bæt/
  • (US) IPA^(key): /k?m?bæt/, /?k?m?bæt/
• Rhymes: -æt

Noun

combat (countable and uncountable, plural combats)

1. A battle, a fight (often one in which weapons are used).

   • "My tastes," he said, still smiling, "incline me to the garishly sunlit side of this planet." And, to tease her and arouse her to combat: "I prefer a farandole to a nocturne; I'd rather have a painting than an etching; Mr. Whistler bores me with his monochromatic mud; I don't like dull colours, dull sounds, dull intellects; […]."
2. a struggle for victory

Derived terms

• combat pay
• combatant
• combative
• stage combat

Translations

Verb

combat (third-person singular simple present combats, present participle combatting or combating, simple past and past participle combatted or combated)

1. (transitive) To fight; to struggle against.

   It has proven very difficult to combat drug addiction.

2. (intransitive) To fight (with); to struggle for victory (against).
   • 1671, John Milton, Samson Agonistes

     To combat with a blind man I disdain.

Translations

Anagrams

• M.B. coat, tombac

Catalan

Etymology

From combatre, attested from 1490.

Pronunciation

• (Balearic, Valencian) IPA^(key): /kom?bat/
• (Central) IPA^(key): /kum?bat/
• Rhymes: -at

Noun

combat m (plural combats)

1. combat

Verb

combat

1. third-person singular present indicative form of combatre
2. second-person singular imperative form of combatre

References

Further reading

• “combat” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.
• “combat” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
• “combat” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.

French

Etymology

From combattre.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /k??.ba/
• Homophone: combats

Noun

combat m (plural combats)

1. combat (hostile interaction)
2. (figuratively) combat (contest; competition)
3. (in the plural) battle; military combat

Derived terms

Verb

combat

1. third-person singular present indicative of combattre

Further reading

• “combat” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

Norman

Etymology

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Noun

combat m (plural combats)

1. (Jersey) combat

Romanian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [kom?bat]

Verb

combat

1. first-person singular present indicative of combate
2. third-person plural present indicative of combate
3. first-person singular present subjunctive of combate

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?fa?t??/

Etymology 1

From Middle English feghtyng, fy?tynge, fightand, feghtand, feghtande, feightand, fe?tand, vi?tinde, feihtende, from Old English feohtende, from Proto-Germanic *fehtandz, present participle of Proto-Germanic *fehtan? (“to comb, struggle, contend with”), equivalent to fight +? -ing.

Adjective

fighting

1. Engaged in war or other conflict.
2. Apt to provoke a fight.
   • 1925 April 11, "Books", in The New Yorker, page 26:

     It seems like a fighting insult, but he explains.

   • 1947, Hold That Lion! (film):

     Them's fighting words in my country!

   • 2003, Marjorie Kelly, The Divine Right of Capital: Dethroning the Corporate Aristocracy, Berrett-Koehler Publishers, ?ISBN, page xi:

     Those are fighting words, of course, and the people who presently hold the high ground of economic power in society will not be amused.

Translations

Verb

fighting

1. present participle of fight

Derived terms

• fighting chance

Etymology 2

From Middle English fightyng, fightynge, fi?tinge, fe?tyng, from Old English fihtung (“fighting”), equivalent to fight +? -ing.

Noun

fighting (countable and uncountable, plural fightings)

1. The act or process of contending; violence or conflict.
2. A fight or battle; an occasion on which people fight

Derived terms

• fighting fit
• fighting words

Descendants

• Korean: ??? (hwaiting)

Chinese

Etymology

Borrowed from Korean ??? (hwaiting) or ??? (paiting), from English fighting.

Pronunciation

Interjection

fighting

1. (slang) go for it (to put maximum effort into achieving something)

   • ??????????????????????fighting? [MSC, trad.]
     ??????????????????????fighting? [MSC, simp.]

     From: 2016, ?????????? ???????, ????

     Fùzh?ng liù nián, tàolù m?nm?n, y?dìng dài zhe x?xùn huílái! Fùzh?ngrén fighting! [Pinyin]

     (please add an English translation of this example)

   • ???????????????????????????fighting? [MSC, trad.]
     ???????????????????????????fighting? [MSC, simp.]

     From: 2016, ????????? ?????????, ????

     Yùndònghuì sh? zh?nggè rén j?ngshén q?lái! Zhèngzài ch?ng xiàng m?ji?xiàn b?obaomen de hángliè zh?ng! Fighting! [Pinyin]

     (please add an English translation of this example)

   • ??fighting? [MSC, trad.]
     ??fighting? [MSC, simp.]

     From: 2018, ?????????? ????“????”, ????

     Dà Qiáo fighting! [Pinyin]

     (please add an English translation of this example)

Usage notes

This expression doesn't mean "fighting", but an encouragement.