different between marathon vs triathlon

English

Etymology

From French marathon, coined in 1894 by linguist Michel Bréal for the first modern time Olympic Games after Ancient Greek ??????? (Marath?n), a town northeast of Athens. Phidippides the Greek ran the distance from Marathon to Athens to deliver a message regarding the Battle of Marathon. The modern sport of marathon running is based on a run approximately the same distance. The toponym itself comes from ??????? (márathon, “fennel”) and refers to the prevalence of the plant in the area.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /?mæ????n/
• (US) IPA^(key): /?mæ?????n/, /?m??????n/
• Hyphenation: mar?a?thon

Noun

marathon (plural marathons)

1. A 42.195 kilometre (26 mile 385 yard) road race.
2. (figuratively, by extension) Any extended or sustained activity.

   He had a cleaning marathon the night before his girlfriend came over.

Derived terms

• -athon
• marathoner
• half marathon
• ultramarathon

Translations

Verb

marathon (third-person singular simple present marathons, present participle marathoning, simple past and past participle marathoned)

1. To run a marathon.
2. (informal, transitive) To watch or read a large number of instalments of (a film, book, TV series, etc.) in one sitting.

   We're going to marathon Star Trek next weekend.

References

Dutch

Pronunciation

Noun

marathon m (plural marathons, diminutive marathonnetje n)

1. marathon

French

Etymology

From Ancient Greek ??????? (Marath?n)

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ma.?a.t??/

Noun

marathon m (plural marathons)

1. marathon

Derived terms

• marathonien

Further reading

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

English

Etymology

tri- +? -athlon

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /t?a??æ?l?n/

Noun

triathlon (plural triathlons)

1. An athletics event in which contestants compete in swimming, cycling and running in turn.
2. (historical) A former Olympic athletics event in which contestants compete in long jump, shot put, and 100-yard dash.
3. Generally, a sports event in which contestant compete in a combination of three sports.

Derived terms

• cross triathlon
• equestrian triathlon
• winter triathlon
• triathlete

Translations

See also

• cross training
• biathlon
• pentathlon
• hexathlon
• heptathlon
• octathlon
• decathlon

Anagrams

• thorntail

Finnish

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from English triathlon.

Noun

triathlon

1. triathlon (swimming, cycling and running)

Declension

Synonyms

• teräsmieskisa

See also

• kolmiottelu

French

Noun

triathlon m (plural triathlons)

1. triathlon

Derived terms

• triathlon d'hiver

Further reading

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

Italian

Noun

triathlon m (invariable)

1. triathlon

Derived terms

• triatleta