fencing

Etymology

It is formed from English fence + -ing, as the verbal noun of the verb,^[2][3][4] and goes back to Middle English fensing, from fensen (“to protect”).^[5][6][7] The verb comes from the noun fence,^[2][4][8] a shortened form of defense,^[2][4][8][9] from Old French defense, from Latin dēfendō (“to ward off, protect”).^[4] Etymonline therefore treats the oldest sense of fencing as short for defencing.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Protecting something, or keeping it in proper condition: 1462, in the Paston Letters, where a man can look after a wood "in fellyng and fensyng".^[5][8] The OED's first quotation, for the action of protecting or defending, is from Caxton in 1489.^[2]

Semantic evolution

Both main modern meanings grew from the idea of defence.^[9] The sword sense follows the noun fence, "the art of using the sword", recorded from 1533,^[2][4] which Ayto traces to the use of a sword for self-defence.^[9] The barrier sense follows the noun fence as an enclosure, originally a defence against intruders.^[9][4] Fencing as swordplay appears from about 1580,^[6][2][4] before the verb in that sense, which Barnhart first finds in Shakespeare's Merry Wives of Windsor (1598).^[8][2] Etymonline notes that fencing had been regarded as unlawful in England, and that keeping fencing schools was forbidden in the City of London.^[4] From the 17th century the word also covered skilful argument and the dodging of questions.^[3][10] Fencing as a barrier was first an enclosure or railing (about 1585),^[2][8] then the putting up of fences (1628),^[2][4] and only in 1856, in American English, the material for them.^[8][4] In northern Yorkshire dialect it meant cut thorns for mending a hedge.^[11] The thieves' sense, from fence as a receiver of stolen goods,^[4][12] is dated 1851 by the OED and Etymonline,^[2][4] but Green's Dictionary of Slang has fencing for selling horses in 1799 and fencing mobs in 1661.^[12] In Scots law the word named the formal opening of a court or Parliament, recorded in the OED from 1708 and dated to the mid 16th century by the Shorter Oxford.^[2][3]

Timeline

• 1462 – protecting; keeping something in proper condition.^[5][8]
• 1578 – the art of using a sword in attack and defence.^[6] The OED's first quotation is from Mulcaster, 1581.^[2]
• c. 1585 – an enclosure or railing; fences collectively.^[2][8]
• 1628 – putting up fences.^[2][4]
• 1708 – in Scotland, the formal opening of a Parliament or court.^[2]
• 1827 – a horse's leaping of a fence.^[2]
• 1851 – receiving or dealing in stolen goods, in Mayhew's London Labour and the London Poor.^[2][4]
• 1856 – material for fences, in American English.^[8][4]

Meanings

Noun

1. The art, practice or sport of fighting with swords, especially with the foil, épée or saber under rules that score touches.^[10][6][2]
2. Fences collectively; a barrier or enclosure: The fencing around the orchard had rotted.^[6][10][2]
3. Material for building fences, such as wire and stakes: a roll of wire fencing.^[6][10][2]
4. The action of putting up fences.^[2][3]
5. Skilful debate; the avoidance of direct answers.^[10][3]
6. (slang) The business of buying and selling stolen goods.^[10][2][12]
7. (Scots law) The formal opening of a court, or historically of the Parliament.^[3][2]
8. Of a horse, the action of jumping a fence.^[3][2]
9. (obsolete) The action of protecting something or setting up a defence.^[3][2]

Related words

• fence
• defense
• fend
• fender
• fencer

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g h Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b c Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
6. ^ a b c d e f Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
7. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
8. ^ a b c d e f g h i Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
9. ^ a b c d Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
10. ^ a b c d e f Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
11. ^ Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)
12. ^ a b c Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com