defend

Pronunciation

• IPA: /dɪˈfend/^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English defenden, borrowed from Old French defendre and directly from Latin dēfendere (“to ward off, protect”),^[2][3] from dē- “away” and -fendere “to strike, push”, found only in compounds,^[2][3] from Proto-Indo-European *gwhen- (“to strike, kill”),^[2][3] the root also of Old English gūþ “battle”^[3][4] and Greek theínein “to kill”.^[2][3] It is related to offend and fend.^[3][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

To shield from attack, guard against injury: about 1250 in Barnhart, the mid-13th century in Etymonline;^[3][2] to ward off an attacker, about 1314 in the OED.^[6]

Semantic evolution

In Middle English it also meant to forbid or prohibit (before 1300) and to prevent or restrain;^[6][2][7] To fight in defence of someone is from about 1300,^[2] and to defend with words, to vindicate, from the mid-14th century (the 15th century in Hoad).^[2][7] Defender is from about 1300 and defendant, a person defending himself in a lawsuit, from before 1400.^[3]

Timeline

• c. 1250 – to guard from attack.^[3]
• a. 1300 – to forbid.^[6]
• c. 1300 – defender.^[3]
• mid-14th century – to argue in support of.^[2]
• a. 1400 – defendant.^[3]

Modern meaning

Verb

1. To protect someone or something from attack or harm.
2. To speak or argue in support of someone or something.
3. (law) To represent the accused in a trial.
4. (sport) To try to stop the other side from scoring.
5. To try to keep a title or seat in a competition or election.

Word family

• defendable
• defender
• defendant

Related words

• defense
• defence
• defensive
• fend
• fender
• forfend
• offend

References

1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
4. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. ^ Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b c Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press