Feghtere

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A person who takes part in a battle, struggle, or armed conflict against an opponent
2. Someone who engages in combat, whether in war, a contest, or a physical struggle with a rival
3. A warrior or combatant who wrestles, strikes, or otherwise contends against an adversary

Etymology: The spelling "feghtere" is a Middle English form of "fighter," and its root goes back to Old English "feohtan," meaning "to fight." The "-ere" ending is an old suffix that marked a person who performs an action, so the word literally meant one who fights. Medieval scribes spelled the sound with "gh" in many places, following the conventions of their own dialects and the French-influenced spelling habits that were spreading in England, so the same word could appear as "feghtere," "fyghtere," or "fighter" in different manuscripts. The root verb is shared with other West Germanic languages. Dutch "vechten" and German "fechten," which can mean to fight or to fence, come from the same ancestor, so the family of words has kept a sense of combat across its branches. The modern English spelling "fighter" settled in later, while the older "gh" spelling faded out of use.