different between fighting vs fisticuffs

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.

English

Pronunciation

• (UK, US) IPA^(key): /?f?s.t?.k?fs/

Noun

fisticuffs pl (plural only)

1. plural of fisticuff
2. (plural only, informal) An impromptu fight with the fists, usually between only two people.
   • 1881, Robert Louis Stevenson, Virginibus Puerisque, and Other Papers, "Virginibus Puerisque,"

     People who share a cell in the Basti[l]le […] if they do not immediately fall to fisticuffs, will find some possible ground of compromise.

   • 1890, Edmondo de Amicis translated by Caroline Tilton, Holland and Its People, Chapter XII

     […] , his head all scarred with the sticks and fisticuffs which he had got in the taverns at Utrecht, […]

3. (plural only, sports, dated) Bare-knuckled boxing, a form of boxing done without boxing gloves or similar padding.
   • 1870, Charles Dicken, The Mystery of Edwin Drood, Chapter XVII

     In his college days of athletic exercises, Mr. Crisparkle had known professors of the Noble Art of fisticuffs, […]

Synonyms

• (informal: fight): brawl, fight, fist-fight, punch-up
• (bare-knuckled boxing): prizefighting

Related terms

• fist
• fisticuff
• fisticuffer

Translations

See also

• boxing
• fighting