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"fighter" in seven languages

Meaningfighter

Spanish

luchador

/lutʃaˈdoɾ/

masc.other source · luchar, from Latin LUCTĀRĪ 'to wrestle'

Also 'wrestler'; combatiente is a soldier in combat.

French

combattant

/kɔ̃batɑ̃/

masc.inherited

Participle of combattre; a boxer or martial artist is un combattant too.

Italian

combattente

/kombatˈtɛnte/

masc.inherited

Portuguese

lutador

/lutaˈdoh/

masc.other source · lutar, from Latin LUCTĀRĪ 'to wrestle'

Romanian

luptător

/luptəˈtor/

masc.other source · lupta, from Latin LUCTĀRĪ 'to wrestle'

Romanian turns Latin -CT- into -pt-: LUCTĀRĪ → lupta, like NOCTEM → noapte.

Catalan

lluitador

/ʎujtəˈdo/

masc.other source · lluitar, from Latin LUCTĀRĪ 'to wrestle'

English

fighter

/ˈfaɪtɚ/

native English · Old English feohtan 'to fight' + -er

English → ItalianfightercombattenteNot relatedDifferent sources — learn this one fresh. But English has relatives: combat, combatant, battle, battery.What English and Italian share

The Latin ancestor

*COMBATTERE (Late Latin)‘to fight together, beat (from BATTUERE)’

All six sisters descend from it, unless marked otherwise below.

The story

French and Italian fighters 'beat it out together' (BATTUERE, whence battle); the Spanish one wrestles, from LUCTĀRĪ like luchar. For a warplane all say caza, chasseur, caccia: the 'hunter'.

English relatives: combat, combatant, battle, battery

Sound laws at work

French vowel + nasal becomes a nasal vowel

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In a sentence

  • esEs una auténtica luchadora.
  • frC'est une vraie combattante.
  • itÈ una vera combattente.
  • ptEla é uma verdadeira lutadora.
  • roE o adevărată luptătoare.
  • caÉs una autèntica lluitadora.
  • enShe's a real fighter.

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